HARQ feedback for grant-free transmission

ABSTRACT

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for wireless communications. A base station may transmit wireless device-specific downlink control information comprising HARQ feedback to a wireless device. Coordinating a plurality of HARQ feedbacks may result in complicated processing at the base station and/or a delay to schedule a HARQ feedback for the wireless device. The transmission of the downlink control information may not require HARQ feedback from a wireless device. By reducing the transmission of HARQ feedback, the channel capacity utilized for error correction transmissions can be reduced, thereby enhancing resource utilization.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/564,692, titled “HARQ Feedback for Grant-Free Transmission” and filedon Sep. 28, 2017, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

In wireless communications, error correction can be utilized forcontrolling errors in data transmitted across a wireless communicationchannel. Error correction can often double or triple the length of amessage being transmitted with error correction, commonly utilizing halfor more of the capacity of the wireless communication channel.

SUMMARY

The following summary presents a simplified summary of certain features.The summary is not an extensive overview and is not intended to identifykey or critical elements.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for wirelesscommunications. A base station may transmit wireless device-specificdownlink control information to a wireless device. The downlink controlinformation may comprise a HARQ feedback corresponding to grant freeuplink transmission for the wireless device. The wirelessdevice-specific downlink control information may result in a signalingoverhead because a base station may coordinate to schedule a pluralityof HARQ feedbacks for a plurality of wireless devices configured withgrant free uplink transmission. Coordinating a plurality of HARQfeedbacks may result in complicated processing at the base stationand/or a delay to schedule a HARQ feedback for the wireless device.However, the transmission of one or more group-common downlink controlinformation comprising one or more wireless identifiers may not requireHARQ feedback from the wireless devices. Additionally, wireless devicesutilizing a grant of radio resources may not need to be included in thegroup-common downlink control information. This reduction in HARQfeedback may result in fewer error correction transmissions over thewireless communications channel, thereby reducing the channel capacityutilized for error correction transmissions and enhancing resourceutilization.

These and other features and advantages are described in greater detailbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some features are shown by way of example, and not by limitation, in theaccompanying drawings. In the drawings, like numerals reference similarelements.

FIG. 1 shows example sets of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(OFDM) sub carriers.

FIG. 2 shows example transmission time and reception time for twocarriers in a carrier group.

FIG. 3 shows example OFDM radio resources.

FIG. 4 shows hardware elements of a base station and a wireless device.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D show examples for uplink anddownlink signal transmission.

FIG. 6 shows an example protocol structure with multi-connectivity.

FIG. 7 shows an example protocol structure with carrier aggregation (CA)and dual connectivity (DC).

FIG. 8 shows example timing advance group (TAG) configurations.

FIG. 9 shows example message flow in a random access process in asecondary TAG.

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B show examples for interfaces between a 5G corenetwork and base stations.

FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B, FIG. 11C, FIG. 11D, FIG. 11E, and FIG. 11F showexamples for architectures of tight interworking between a 5G RAN and along term evolution (LTE) radio access network (RAN).

FIG. 12A, FIG. 12B, and FIG. 12C show examples for radio protocolstructures of tight interworking bearers.

FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B show examples for base station deployment.

FIG. 14 shows functional split option examples of a centralized basestation deployment.

FIG. 15 is an example HARQ feedback procedure.

FIG. 16 is an example HARQ feedback procedure.

FIG. 17 is an example HARQ feedback procedure.

FIG. 18A, FIG. 18B, and FIG. 18C are examples of group-common DCIformats.

FIG. 19A and FIG. 19B are example of group-common DCI formats.

FIG. 20 is an example HARQ feedback procedure.

FIG. 21A and FIG. 21B are example HARQ feedback procedures.

FIG. 22A and FIG. 22B are example HARQ feedback procedures.

FIG. 23A and FIG. 23B are example HARQ feedback procedures.

FIG. 24A and FIG. 24B are example HARQ feedback procedures.

FIG. 25 is an example downlink control monitoring procedure.

FIG. 26 is an example HARQ feedback procedure for a downlink channel.

FIG. 27 is an example HARQ feedback procedure for a downlink channel.

FIG. 28 shows example elements of a computing device that may be used toimplement any of the various devices described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, show examples ofthe disclosure. It is to be understood that the examples shown in thedrawings and/or discussed herein are non-exclusive and that there areother examples of how the disclosure may be practiced.

Examples may enable operation of carrier aggregation and may be employedin the technical field of multicarrier communication systems. Examplesmay relate to establishing uplink and/or downlink communication channelsin multicarrier communication systems.

The following acronyms are used throughout the present disclosure,provided below for convenience although other acronyms may be introducedin the detailed description:

-   -   3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project    -   5G 5th generation wireless systems    -   5GC 5G Core Network    -   ACK Acknowledgement    -   AMF Access and Mobility Management Function    -   ASIC application-specific integrated circuit    -   BPSK binary phase shift keying    -   CA carrier aggregation    -   CC component carrier    -   CDMA code division multiple access    -   CP cyclic prefix    -   CPLD complex programmable logic devices    -   CSI channel state information    -   CSS common search space    -   CU central unit    -   DC dual connectivity    -   DCI downlink control information    -   DFTS-OFDM discrete Fourier transform spreading OFDM    -   DL downlink    -   DU distributed unit    -   eLTE enhanced LTE    -   eMBB enhanced mobile broadband    -   eNB evolved Node B    -   EPC evolved packet core    -   E-UTRAN evolved-universal terrestrial radio access network    -   FDD frequency division multiplexing    -   FPGA field programmable gate arrays    -   Fs-C Fs-control plane    -   Fs-U Fs-user plane    -   gNB next generation node B    -   HARQ hybrid automatic repeat request    -   HDL hardware description languages    -   ID identifier    -   IE information element    -   LTE long term evolution    -   MAC media access control    -   MCG master cell group    -   MeNB master evolved node B    -   MIB master information block    -   MME mobility management entity    -   mMTC massive machine type communications    -   NACK Negative Acknowledgement    -   NAS non-access stratum    -   NG CP next generation control plane core    -   NGC next generation core    -   NG-C NG-control plane    -   NG-U NG-user plane    -   NR MAC new radio MAC    -   NR PDCP new radio PDCP    -   NR PHY new radio physical    -   NR RLC new radio RLC    -   NR RRC new radio RRC    -   NR new radio    -   NSSAI network slice selection assistance information    -   OFDM orthogonal frequency division multiplexing    -   PCC primary component carrier    -   PCell primary cell    -   PDCCH physical downlink control channel    -   PDCP packet data convergence protocol    -   PDU packet data unit    -   PHICH physical HARQ indicator channel    -   PHY physical    -   PLMN public land mobile network    -   PSCell primary secondary cell    -   pTAG primary timing advance group    -   PUCCH physical uplink control channel    -   PUSCH physical uplink shared channel    -   QAM quadrature amplitude modulation    -   QPSK quadrature phase shift keying    -   RA random access    -   RACH random access channel    -   RAN radio access network    -   RAP random access preamble    -   RAR random access response    -   RB resource blocks    -   RBG resource block groups    -   RLC radio link control    -   RRC radio resource control    -   RRM radio resource management    -   RV redundancy version    -   SCC secondary component carrier    -   SCell secondary cell    -   SCG secondary cell group    -   SC-OFDM single carrier-OFDM    -   SDU service data unit    -   SeNB secondary evolved node B    -   SFN system frame number    -   S-GW serving gateway    -   SIB system information block    -   SC-OFDM single carrier orthogonal frequency division        multiplexing    -   SRB signaling radio bearer    -   sTAG(s) secondary timing advance group(s)    -   TA timing advance    -   TAG timing advance group    -   TAI tracking area identifier    -   TAT time alignment timer    -   TDD time division duplexing    -   TDMA time division multiple access    -   TTI transmission time interval    -   TB transport block    -   UE user equipment    -   UL uplink    -   UPGW user plane gateway    -   URLLC ultra-reliable low-latency communications    -   VHDL VHSIC hardware description language    -   Xn-C Xn-control plane    -   Xn-U Xn-user plane    -   Xx-C Xx-control plane    -   Xx-U Xx-user plane

Examples may be implemented using various physical layer modulation andtransmission mechanisms. Example transmission mechanisms may include,but are not limited to CDMA, OFDM, TDMA, Wavelet technologies, and/orthe like. Hybrid transmission mechanisms such as TDMA/CDMA and OFDM/CDMAmay also be employed. Various modulation schemes may be used for signaltransmission in the physical layer. Examples of modulation schemesinclude, but are not limited to phase, amplitude, code, a combination ofthese, and/or the like. An example radio transmission method mayimplement QAM using BPSK, QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, and/or thelike. Physical radio transmission may be enhanced by dynamically orsemi-dynamically changing the modulation and coding scheme depending ontransmission requirements and radio conditions.

FIG. 1 shows example sets of OFDM subcarriers. As shown in this example,arrow(s) in the diagram may depict a subcarrier in a multicarrier OFDMsystem. The OFDM system may use technology such as OFDM technology,DFTS-OFDM, SC-OFDM technology, or the like. For example, arrow 101 showsa subcarrier transmitting information symbols. FIG. 1 is shown as anexample, and a typical multicarrier OFDM system may include moresubcarriers in a carrier. For example, the number of subcarriers in acarrier may be in the range of 10 to 10,000 subcarriers. FIG. 1 showstwo guard bands 106 and 107 in a transmission band. As shown in FIG. 1 ,guard band 106 is between subcarriers 103 and subcarriers 104. Theexample set of subcarriers A 102 includes subcarriers 103 andsubcarriers 104. FIG. 1 also shows an example set of subcarriers B 105.As shown, there is no guard band between any two subcarriers in theexample set of subcarriers B 105. Carriers in a multicarrier OFDMcommunication system may be contiguous carriers, non-contiguouscarriers, or a combination of both contiguous and non-contiguouscarriers.

FIG. 2 shows an example timing arrangement with transmission time andreception time for two carriers. A multicarrier OFDM communicationsystem may include one or more carriers, for example, ranging from 1 to10 carriers. Carrier A 204 and carrier B 205 may have the same ordifferent timing structures. Although FIG. 2 shows two synchronizedcarriers, carrier A 204 and carrier B 205 may or may not be synchronizedwith each other. Different radio frame structures may be supported forFDD and TDD duplex mechanisms. FIG. 2 shows an example FDD frame timing.Downlink and uplink transmissions may be organized into radio frames201. In this example, radio frame duration is 10 milliseconds (msec).Other frame durations, for example, in the range of 1 to 100 msec mayalso be supported. In this example, each 10 msec radio frame 201 may bedivided into ten equally sized subframes 202. Other subframe durationssuch as including 0.5 msec, 1 msec, 2 msec, and 5 msec may also besupported. Subframe(s) may consist of two or more slots (e.g., slots 206and 207). For the example of FDD, 10 subframes may be available fordownlink transmission and 10 subframes may be available for uplinktransmissions in each 10 msec interval. Uplink and downlinktransmissions may be separated in the frequency domain. A slot may be 7or 14 OFDM symbols for the same subcarrier spacing of up to 60 kHz withnormal CP. A slot may be 14 OFDM symbols for the same subcarrier spacinghigher than 60 kHz with normal CP. A slot may include all downlink, alluplink, or a downlink part and an uplink part, and/or alike. Slotaggregation may be supported, e.g., data transmission may be scheduledto span one or multiple slots. For example, a mini-slot may start at anOFDM symbol in a subframe. A mini-slot may have a duration of one ormore OFDM symbols. Slot(s) may include a plurality of OFDM symbols 203.The number of OFDM symbols 203 in a slot 206 may depend on the cyclicprefix length and subcarrier spacing.

FIG. 3 shows an example of OFDM radio resources. The resource gridstructure in time 304 and frequency 305 is shown in FIG. 3 . Thequantity of downlink subcarriers or RBs may depend, at least in part, onthe downlink transmission bandwidth 306 configured in the cell. Thesmallest radio resource unit may be called a resource element (e.g.,301). Resource elements may be grouped into resource blocks (e.g., 302).Resource blocks may be grouped into larger radio resources calledResource Block Groups (RBG) (e.g., 303). The transmitted signal in slot206 may be described by one or several resource grids of a plurality ofsubcarriers and a plurality of OFDM symbols. Resource blocks may be usedto describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resourceelements. Other pre-defined groupings of physical resource elements maybe implemented in the system depending on the radio technology. Forexample, 24 subcarriers may be grouped as a radio block for a durationof 5 msec. A resource block may correspond to one slot in the timedomain and 180 kHz in the frequency domain (for 15 kHz subcarrierbandwidth and 12 subcarriers).

Multiple numerologies may be supported. A numerology may be derived byscaling a basic subcarrier spacing by an integer N. Scalable numerologymay allow at least from 15 kHz to 480 kHz subcarrier spacing. Thenumerology with 15 kHz and scaled numerology with different subcarrierspacing with the same CP overhead may align at a symbol boundary every 1msec in a NR carrier.

FIG. 4 shows hardware elements of a base station 401 and a wirelessdevice 406. A communication network 400 may include at least one basestation 401 and at least one wireless device 406. The base station 401may include at least one communication interface 402, one or moreprocessors 403, and at least one set of program code instructions 405stored in non-transitory memory 404 and executable by the one or moreprocessors 403. The wireless device 406 may include at least onecommunication interface 407, one or more processors 408, and at leastone set of program code instructions 410 stored in non-transitory memory409 and executable by the one or more processors 408. A communicationinterface 402 in the base station 401 may be configured to engage incommunication with a communication interface 407 in the wireless device406, such as via communication path that includes at least one wirelesslink 411. The wireless link 411 may be a bi-directional link. Thecommunication interface 407 in the wireless device 406 may also beconfigured to engage in communication with the communication interface402 in the base station 401. The base station 401 and the wirelessdevice 406 may be configured to send and receive data over the wirelesslink 411 using multiple frequency carriers. Base stations, wirelessdevices, and other communication devices may include structure andoperations of transceiver(s). A transceiver is a device that includesboth a transmitter and receiver. Transceivers may be employed in devicessuch as wireless devices, base stations, relay nodes, and/or the like.Examples for radio technology implemented in the communicationinterfaces 402, 407 and the wireless link 411 are shown in FIG. 1 , FIG.2 , FIG. 3 , FIG. 5 , and associated text. The communication network 400may comprise any number and/or type of devices, such as, for example,computing devices, wireless devices, mobile devices, handsets, tablets,laptops, internet of things (IoT) devices, hotspots, cellular repeaters,computing devices, and/or, more generally, user equipment (e.g., UE).Although one or more of the above types of devices may be referencedherein (e.g., UE, wireless device, computing device, etc.), it should beunderstood that any device herein may comprise any one or more of theabove types of devices or similar devices. The communication network400, and any other network referenced herein, may comprise an LTEnetwork, a 5G network, or any other network for wireless communications.Apparatuses, systems, and/or methods described herein may generally bedescribed as implemented on one or more devices (e.g., wireless device,base station, eNB, gNB, computing device, etc.), in one or morenetworks, but it will be understood that one or more features and stepsmay be implemented on any device and/or in any network. As usedthroughout, the term “base station” may comprise one or more of: a basestation, a node, a Node B, a gNB, an eNB, an ng-eNB, a relay node (e.g.,an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node), a donor node (e.g., adonor eNB, a donor gNB, etc.), an access point (e.g., a WiFi accesspoint), a computing device, a device capable of wirelesslycommunicating, or any other device capable of sending and/or receivingsignals. As used throughout, the term “wireless device” may comprise oneor more of a UE, a handset, a mobile device, a computing device, a node,a device capable of wirelessly communicating, or any other devicecapable of sending and/or receiving signals. Any reference to one ormore of these terms/devices also considers use of any other term/devicementioned above.

The communications network 400 may comprise Radio Access Network (RAN)architecture. The RAN architecture may comprise one or more RAN nodesthat may be a next generation Node B (gNB) (e.g., 401) or any other basestation providing New Radio (NR) user plane and control plane protocolterminations towards a first wireless device (e.g. 406). A RAN node maybe a next generation evolved Node B (ng-eNB), providing Evolved UMTSTerrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocolterminations towards a second wireless device. The first wireless devicemay communicate with a base station over a Uu interface. The secondwireless device may communicate with a ng-eNB over a Uu interface. Basestation 401 may comprise one or more of a gNB, ng-eNB, and/or the like.

A base station may host functions such as: radio resource management andscheduling, IP header compression, encryption and integrity protectionof data, selection of Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) atwireless device attachment, routing of user plane and control planedata, connection setup and release, scheduling and transmission ofpaging messages (originated from the AMF), scheduling and transmissionof system broadcast information (originated from the AMF or Operationand Maintenance (O&M)), measurement and measurement reportingconfiguration, transport level packet marking in the uplink, sessionmanagement, support of network slicing, Quality of Service (QoS) flowmanagement and mapping to data radio bearers, support of wirelessdevices in RRC_INACTIVE state, distribution function for Non-AccessStratum (NAS) messages, RAN sharing, and dual connectivity or tightinterworking between NR and E-UTRA.

One or more base stations may be interconnected with each other by meansof Xn interface. A base station may be connected by means of NGinterfaces to 5G Core Network (5GC). 5GC may comprise one or moreAMF/User Plane Function (UPF) functions. A base station may be connectedto a UPF by means of an NG-User plane (NG-U) interface. The NG-Uinterface may provide delivery (e.g., non-guaranteed delivery) of userplane Protocol Data Units (PDUs) between a RAN node and the UPF. A basestation may be connected to an AMF by means of an NG-Control plane(e.g., NG-C) interface. The NG-C interface may provide functions such asNG interface management, wireless device context management, wirelessdevice mobility management, transport of NAS messages, paging, PDUsession management, configuration transfer or warning messagetransmission.

A UPF may host functions such as anchor point for intra-/inter-RadioAccess Technology (RAT) mobility (if applicable), external PDU sessionpoint of interconnect to data network, packet routing and forwarding,packet inspection and user plane part of policy rule enforcement,traffic usage reporting, uplink classifier to support routing trafficflows to a data network, branching point to support multi-homed PDUsession, QoS handling for user plane, e.g. packet filtering, gating,Uplink (UL)/Downlink (DL) rate enforcement, uplink traffic verification(e.g. Service Data Flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), downlink packetbuffering and/or downlink data notification triggering.

An AMF may host functions such as NAS signaling termination, NASsignaling security, Access Stratum (AS) security control, inter CoreNetwork (CN) node signaling for mobility between 3^(rd) GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) access networks, idle mode wireless devicereachability (e.g., control and execution of paging retransmission),registration area management, support of intra-system and inter-systemmobility, access authentication, access authorization including check ofroaming rights, mobility management control (subscription and policies),support of network slicing and/or Session Management Function (SMF)selection.

An interface may be a hardware interface, a firmware interface, asoftware interface, and/or a combination thereof. The hardware interfacemay include connectors, wires, electronic devices such as drivers,amplifiers, and/or the like. A software interface may include codestored in a memory device to implement protocol(s), protocol layers,communication drivers, device drivers, combinations thereof, and/or thelike. A firmware interface may include a combination of embeddedhardware and code stored in and/or in communication with a memory deviceto implement connections, electronic device operations, protocol(s),protocol layers, communication drivers, device drivers, hardwareoperations, combinations thereof, and/or the like.

The term configured may relate to the capacity of a device whether thedevice is in an operational or a non-operational state. Configured mayalso refer to specific settings in a device that effect the operationalcharacteristics of the device whether the device is in an operational ora non-operational state. In other words, the hardware, software,firmware, registers, memory values, and/or the like may be “configured”within a device, whether the device is in an operational or anonoperational state, to provide the device with specificcharacteristics. Terms such as “a control message to cause in a device”may mean that a control message has parameters that may be used toconfigure specific characteristics in the device, whether the device isin an operational or a non-operational state.

A network may include a multitude of base stations, providing a userplane NR PDCP/NR RLC/NR MAC/NR PHY and control plane (e.g., NR RRC)protocol terminations towards the wireless device. The base station(s)may be interconnected with other base station(s) (e.g., employing an Xninterface). The base stations may also be connected employing, forexample, an NG interface to an NGC. FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B show examplesfor interfaces between a 5G core network (e.g., NGC) and base stations(e.g., gNB and eLTE eNB). For example, the base stations may beinterconnected to the NGC control plane (e.g., NG CP) employing the NG-Cinterface and to the NGC user plane (e.g., UPGW) employing the NG-Uinterface. The NG interface may support a many-to-many relation between5G core networks and base stations.

A base station may include many sectors, for example: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6sectors. A base station may include many cells, for example, rangingfrom 1 to 50 cells or more. A cell may be categorized, for example, as aprimary cell or secondary cell. At RRC connectionestablishment/re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may providethe NAS (non-access stratum) mobility information (e.g., TAI), and atRRC connection re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may providethe security input. This cell may be referred to as the Primary Cell(PCell). In the downlink, the carrier corresponding to the PCell may bethe Downlink Primary Component Carrier (DL PCC); in the uplink, thecarrier corresponding to the PCell may be the Uplink Primary ComponentCarrier (UL PCC). Depending on wireless device capabilities, SecondaryCells (SCells) may be configured to form together with the PCell a setof serving cells. In the downlink, the carrier corresponding to an SCellmay be a Downlink Secondary Component Carrier (DL SCC); in the uplink,the carrier corresponding to an SCell may be an Uplink SecondaryComponent Carrier (UL SCC). An SCell may or may not have an uplinkcarrier.

A cell, comprising a downlink carrier and optionally an uplink carrier,may be assigned a physical cell ID and a cell index. A carrier (downlinkor uplink) may belong to only one cell. The cell ID or cell index mayalso identify the downlink carrier or uplink carrier of the cell(depending on the context in which it is used). The cell ID may beequally referred to a carrier ID, and cell index may be referred tocarrier index. In implementation, the physical cell ID or cell index maybe assigned to a cell. A cell ID may be determined using asynchronization signal transmitted on a downlink carrier. A cell indexmay be determined using RRC messages. For example, reference to a firstphysical cell ID for a first downlink carrier may indicate that thefirst physical cell ID is for a cell comprising the first downlinkcarrier. The same concept may apply to, for example, carrier activation.Reference to a first carrier that is activated may indicate that thecell comprising the first carrier is activated.

A device may be configured to operate as needed by freely combining anyof the examples. The disclosed mechanisms may be performed if certaincriteria are met, for example, in a wireless device, a base station, aradio environment, a network, a combination of the above, and/or thelike. Example criteria may be based, at least in part, on for example,traffic load, initial system set up, packet sizes, trafficcharacteristics, a combination of the above, and/or the like. One ormore criteria may be satisfied. It may be possible to implement examplesthat selectively implement disclosed protocols.

A base station may communicate with a variety of wireless devices.Wireless devices may support multiple technologies, and/or multiplereleases of the same technology. Wireless devices may have some specificcapability(ies) depending on its wireless device category and/orcapability(ies). A base station may comprise multiple sectors. Referenceto a base station communicating with a plurality of wireless devices mayindicate that a base station may communicate with a subset of the totalwireless devices in a coverage area. A plurality of wireless devices ofa given LTE or 5G release, with a given capability and in a given sectorof the base station, may be used. The plurality of wireless devices mayrefer to a selected plurality of wireless devices, and/or a subset oftotal wireless devices in a coverage area which perform according todisclosed methods, and/or the like. There may be a plurality of wirelessdevices in a coverage area that may not comply with the disclosedmethods, for example, because those wireless devices perform based onolder releases of LTE or 5G technology.

A base station may transmit (e.g., to a wireless device) one or moremessages (e.g. RRC messages) that may comprise a plurality ofconfiguration parameters for one or more cells. One or more cells maycomprise at least one primary cell and at least one secondary cell. AnRRC message may be broadcasted or unicasted to the wireless device.Configuration parameters may comprise common parameters and dedicatedparameters.

Services and/or functions of an RRC sublayer may comprise at least oneof: broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS; paginginitiated by 5GC and/or NG-RAN; establishment, maintenance, and/orrelease of an RRC connection between a wireless device and NG-RAN, whichmay comprise at least one of addition, modification and release ofcarrier aggregation; or addition, modification, and/or release of dualconnectivity in NR or between E-UTRA and NR. Services and/or functionsof an RRC sublayer may further comprise at least one of securityfunctions comprising key management; establishment, configuration,maintenance, and/or release of Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs) and/orData Radio Bearers (DRBs); mobility functions which may comprise atleast one of a handover (e.g. intra NR mobility or inter-RAT mobility)and a context transfer; or a wireless device cell selection andreselection and control of cell selection and reselection. Servicesand/or functions of an RRC sublayer may further comprise at least one ofQoS management functions; a wireless device measurementconfiguration/reporting; detection of and/or recovery from radio linkfailure; or NAS message transfer to/from a core network entity (e.g.AMF, Mobility Management Entity (MME)) from/to the wireless device.

An RRC sublayer may support an RRC_Idle state, an RRC_Inactive stateand/or an RRC_Connected state for a wireless device. In an RRC_Idlestate, a wireless device may perform at least one of: Public Land MobileNetwork (PLMN) selection; receiving broadcasted system information; cellselection/re-selection; monitoring/receiving a paging for mobileterminated data initiated by 5GC; paging for mobile terminated data areamanaged by 5GC; or DRX for CN paging configured via NAS. In anRRC_Inactive state, a wireless device may perform at least one of:receiving broadcasted system information; cell selection/re-selection;monitoring/receiving a RAN/CN paging initiated by NG-RAN/5GC; RAN-basednotification area (RNA) managed by NG-RAN; or DRX for RAN/CN pagingconfigured by NG-RAN/NAS. In an RRC_Idle state of a wireless device, abase station (e.g. NG-RAN) may keep a 5GC-NG-RAN connection (bothC/U-planes) for the wireless device; and/or store a wireless device AScontext for the wireless device. In an RRC_Connected state of a wirelessdevice, a base station (e.g. NG-RAN) may perform at least one of:establishment of 5GC-NG-RAN connection (both C/U-planes) for thewireless device; storing a wireless device AS context for the wirelessdevice; transmit/receive of unicast data to/from the wireless device; ornetwork-controlled mobility based on measurement results received fromthe wireless device. In an RRC_Connected state of a wireless device, anNG-RAN may know a cell that the wireless device belongs to.

System information (SI) may be divided into minimum SI and other SI. Theminimum SI may be periodically broadcast. The minimum SI may comprisebasic information required for initial access and information foracquiring any other SI broadcast periodically or provisioned on-demand,i.e. scheduling information. The other SI may either be broadcast, or beprovisioned in a dedicated manner, either triggered by a network or uponrequest from a wireless device. A minimum SI may be transmitted via twodifferent downlink channels using different messages (e.g.MasterInformationBlock and SystemInformationBlockType1). The other SImay be transmitted via SystemInformationBlockType2. For a wirelessdevice in an RRC_Connected state, dedicated RRC signaling may beemployed for the request and delivery of the other SI. For the wirelessdevice in the RRC_Idle state and/or the RRC_Inactive state, the requestmay trigger a random-access procedure.

A wireless device may send its radio access capability information whichmay be static. A base station may request what capabilities for awireless device to report based on band information. If allowed by anetwork, a temporary capability restriction request may be sent by thewireless device to signal the limited availability of some capabilities(e.g. due to hardware sharing, interference or overheating) to the basestation. The base station may confirm or reject the request. Thetemporary capability restriction may be transparent to 5GC (e.g., staticcapabilities may be stored in 5GC).

If CA is configured, a wireless device may have an RRC connection with anetwork. At RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handoverprocedure, one serving cell may provide NAS mobility information, and atRRC connection re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may provide asecurity input. This cell may be referred to as the PCell. Depending onthe capabilities of the wireless device, SCells may be configured toform together with the PCell a set of serving cells. The configured setof serving cells for the wireless device may comprise one PCell and oneor more SCells.

The reconfiguration, addition and removal of SCells may be performed byRRC. At intra-NR handover, RRC may also add, remove, or reconfigureSCells for usage with the target PCell. If adding a new SCell, dedicatedRRC signaling may be employed to send all required system information ofthe SCell. In connected mode, wireless devices may not need to acquirebroadcasted system information directly from the SCells.

An RRC connection reconfiguration procedure may be used to modify an RRCconnection, (e.g. to establish, modify and/or release RBs, to performhandover, to setup, modify, and/or release measurements, to add, modify,and/or release SCells and cell groups). As part of the RRC connectionreconfiguration procedure, NAS dedicated information may be transferredfrom the network to the wireless device. TheRRCConnectionReconfiguration message may be a command to modify an RRCconnection. It may convey information for measurement configuration,mobility control, radio resource configuration (e.g. RBs, MAC mainconfiguration and physical channel configuration) comprising anyassociated dedicated NAS information and security configuration. If thereceived RRC Connection Reconfiguration message includes thesCellToReleaseList, the wireless device may perform an SCell release. Ifthe received RRC Connection Reconfiguration message includes thesCellToAddModList, the wireless device may perform SCell additions ormodification.

An RRC connection establishment (or reestablishment, resume) proceduremay be used to establish (or reestablish, resume) an RRC connection. AnRRC connection establishment procedure may comprise SRB1 establishment.The RRC connection establishment procedure may be used to transfer theinitial NAS dedicated information message from a wireless device toE-UTRAN. The RRCConnectionReestablishment message may be used tore-establish SRB1.

A measurement report procedure may be to transfer measurement resultsfrom a wireless device to NG-RAN. The wireless device may initiate ameasurement report procedure, e.g., after successful securityactivation. A measurement report message may be employed to transmitmeasurement results.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C, and FIG. 5D show examples of architecture foruplink and downlink signal transmission. FIG. 5A shows an example of anuplink physical channel. The baseband signal representing the physicaluplink shared channel may be processed according to the followingprocesses, which may be performed by structures described below. Thesestructures and corresponding functions are shown as examples, however,it is anticipated that other structures and/or functions may beimplemented in various examples. The structures and correspondingfunctions may comprise, e.g., one or more scrambling devices 501A and501B configured to perform scrambling of coded bits in each of thecodewords to be transmitted on a physical channel; one or moremodulation mappers 502A and 502B configured to perform modulation ofscrambled bits to generate complex-valued symbols; a layer mapper 503configured to perform mapping of the complex-valued modulation symbolsonto one or several transmission layers; one or more transform precoders504A and 504B to generate complex-valued symbols; a precoding device 505configured to perform precoding of the complex-valued symbols; one ormore resource element mappers 506A and 506B configured to performmapping of precoded complex-valued symbols to resource elements; one ormore signal generators 507A and 507B configured to perform thegeneration of a complex-valued time-domain DFTS-OFDM/SC-FDMA signal foreach antenna port; and/or the like.

FIG. 5B shows an example of performing modulation and up-conversion tothe carrier frequency of the complex-valued DFTS-OFDM/SC-FDMA basebandsignal, e.g., for each antenna port and/or for the complex-valuedphysical random access channel (PRACH) baseband signal. For example, thebaseband signal, represented as s₁(t), may be split, by a signalsplitter 510, into real and imaginary components, Re{s₁(t)} andIm{s₁(t)}, respectively. The real component may be modulated by amodulator 511A, and the imaginary component may be modulated by amodulator 511B. The output signal of the modulator 511A and the outputsignal of the modulator 511B may be mixed by a mixer 512. The outputsignal of the mixer 512 may be input to a filtering device 513, andfiltering may be employed by the filtering device 513 prior totransmission.

FIG. 5C shows an example structure for downlink transmissions. Thebaseband signal representing a downlink physical channel may beprocessed by the following processes, which may be performed bystructures described below. These structures and corresponding functionsare shown as examples, however, it is anticipated that other structuresand/or functions may be implemented in various examples. The structuresand corresponding functions may comprise, e.g., one or more scramblingdevices 531A and 531B configured to perform scrambling of coded bits ineach of the codewords to be transmitted on a physical channel; one ormore modulation mappers 532A and 532B configured to perform modulationof scrambled bits to generate complex-valued modulation symbols; a layermapper 533 configured to perform mapping of the complex-valuedmodulation symbols onto one or several transmission layers; a precodingdevice 534 configured to perform precoding of the complex-valuedmodulation symbols on each layer for transmission on the antenna ports;one or more resource element mappers 535A and 535B configured to performmapping of complex-valued modulation symbols for each antenna port toresource elements; one or more OFDM signal generators 536A and 536Bconfigured to perform the generation of complex-valued time-domain OFDMsignal for each antenna port; and/or the like.

FIG. 5D shows an example structure for modulation and up-conversion tothe carrier frequency of the complex-valued OFDM baseband signal foreach antenna port. For example, the baseband signal, represented as s₁^((p))(t), may be split, by a signal splitter 520, into real andimaginary components, Re{s₁ ^((p))(t)} and Im{s₁ ^((p))(t)},respectively. The real component may be modulated by a modulator 521A,and the imaginary component may be modulated by a modulator 521B. Theoutput signal of the modulator 521A and the output signal of themodulator 521B may be mixed by a mixer 522. The output signal of themixer 522 may be input to a filtering device 523, and filtering may beemployed by the filtering device 523 prior to transmission.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 show examples for protocol structures with CA andmulti-connectivity. NR may support multi-connectivity operation, wherebya multiple receiver/transmitter (RX/TX) wireless device in RRC_CONNECTEDmay be configured to utilize radio resources provided by multipleschedulers located in multiple base stations connected via non-ideal orideal backhaul over the Xn interface. Base stations involved inmulti-connectivity for a certain wireless device may assume twodifferent roles: a base station may either act as a master base station(e.g., 600) or as a secondary base station (e.g., 610 or 620). Inmulti-connectivity, a wireless device may be connected to one masterbase station (e.g., 600) and one or more secondary base stations (e.g.,610 and/or 620). Any one or more of the Master base station 600 and/orthe secondary base stations 610 and 620 may be a Next Generation (NG)NodeB. The master base station 600 may comprise protocol layers NR MAC601, NR RLC 602 and 603, and NR PDCP 604 and 605. The secondary basestation may comprise protocol layers NR MAC 611, NR RLC 612 and 613, andNR PDCP 614. The secondary base station may comprise protocol layers NRMAC 621, NR RLC 622 and 623, and NR PDCP 624. The master base station600 may communicate via an interface 606 and/or via an interface 607,the secondary base station 610 may communicate via an interface 615, andthe secondary base station 620 may communicate via an interface 625. Themaster base station 600 may also communicate with the secondary basestation 610 and the secondary base station 621 via interfaces 608 and609, respectively, which may include Xn interfaces. For example, themaster base station 600 may communicate via the interface 608, at layerNR PDCP 605, and with the secondary base station 610 at layer NR RLC612. The master base station 600 may communicate via the interface 609,at layer NR PDCP 605, and with the secondary base station 620 at layerNR RLC 622.

FIG. 7 shows an example structure for the wireless device side MACentities, e.g., if a Master Cell Group (MCG) and a Secondary Cell Group(SCG) are configured. Media Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) receptionmay be included but is not shown in this figure for simplicity.

In multi-connectivity, the radio protocol architecture that a particularbearer uses may depend on how the bearer is set up. As an example, threealternatives may exist, an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, and a splitbearer, such as shown in FIG. 6 . NR RRC may be located in a master basestation and SRBs may be configured as a MCG bearer type and may use theradio resources of the master base station. Multi-connectivity may haveat least one bearer configured to use radio resources provided by thesecondary base station. Multi-connectivity may or may not be configuredor implemented.

For multi-connectivity, the wireless device may be configured withmultiple NR MAC entities: e.g., one NR MAC entity for a master basestation, and other NR MAC entities for secondary base stations. Inmulti-connectivity, the configured set of serving cells for a wirelessdevice may comprise two subsets: e.g., the Master Cell Group (MCG)including the serving cells of the master base station, and theSecondary Cell Groups (SCGs) including the serving cells of thesecondary base stations.

At least one cell in a SCG may have a configured UL component carrier(CC) and one of the UL CCs, e.g., named PSCell (or PCell of SCG, orsometimes called PCell), may be configured with PUCCH resources. If theSCG is configured, there may be at least one SCG bearer or one splitbearer. If a physical layer problem or a random access problem on aPSCell occurs or is detected, if the maximum number of NR RLCretransmissions has been reached associated with the SCG, or if anaccess problem on a PSCell during a SCG addition or a SCG change occursor is detected, then an RRC connection re-establishment procedure maynot be triggered, UL transmissions towards cells of the SCG may bestopped, a master base station may be informed by the wireless device ofa SCG failure type, and for a split bearer the DL data transfer over themaster base station may be maintained. The NR RLC Acknowledge Mode (AM)bearer may be configured for the split bearer. Like the PCell, a PSCellmay not be de-activated. The PSCell may be changed with an SCG change(e.g., with a security key change and a RACH procedure). A direct bearertype may change between a split bearer and an SCG bearer, or asimultaneous configuration of an SCG and a split bearer may or may notbe supported.

A master base station and secondary base stations may interact formulti-connectivity. The master base station may maintain the RRMmeasurement configuration of the wireless device, and the master basestation may, (e.g., based on received measurement reports, and/or basedon traffic conditions and/or bearer types), decide to ask a secondarybase station to provide additional resources (e.g., serving cells) for awireless device. If a request from the master base station is received,a secondary base station may create a container that may result in theconfiguration of additional serving cells for the wireless device (orthe secondary base station decide that it has no resource available todo so). For wireless device capability coordination, the master basestation may provide some or all of the Active Set (AS) configuration andthe wireless device capabilities to the secondary base station. Themaster base station and the secondary base station may exchangeinformation about a wireless device configuration, such as by employingNR RRC containers (e.g., inter-node messages) carried in Xn messages.The secondary base station may initiate a reconfiguration of itsexisting serving cells (e.g., PUCCH towards the secondary base station).The secondary base station may decide which cell is the PSCell withinthe SCG. The master base station may or may not change the content ofthe NR RRC configuration provided by the secondary base station. In anSCG addition and an SCG SCell addition, the master base station mayprovide the latest measurement results for the SCG cell(s). Both amaster base station and a secondary base stations may know the systemframe number (SFN) and subframe offset of each other by operations,administration, and maintenance (OAM) (e.g., for the purpose ofdiscontinuous reception (DRX) alignment and identification of ameasurement gap). If adding a new SCG SCell, dedicated NR RRC signalingmay be used for sending required system information of the cell for CA,except, e.g., for the SFN acquired from an MIB of the PSCell of an SCG.

FIG. 7 shows an example of dual-connectivity (DC) for two MAC entitiesat a wireless device side. A first MAC entity may comprise a lower layerof an MCG 700, an upper layer of an MCG 718, and one or moreintermediate layers of an MCG 719. The lower layer of the MCG 700 maycomprise, e.g., a paging channel (PCH) 701, a broadcast channel (BCH)702, a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) 703, an uplink shared channel(UL-SCH) 704, and a random access channel (RACH) 705. The one or moreintermediate layers of the MCG 719 may comprise, e.g., one or morehybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes 706, one or more randomaccess control processes 707, multiplexing and/or de-multiplexingprocesses 709, logical channel prioritization on the uplink processes710, and a control processes 708 providing control for the aboveprocesses in the one or more intermediate layers of the MCG 719. Theupper layer of the MCG 718 may comprise, e.g., a paging control channel(PCCH) 711, a broadcast control channel (BCCH) 712, a common controlchannel (CCCH) 713, a dedicated control channel (DCCH) 714, a dedicatedtraffic channel (DTCH) 715, and a MAC control 716.

A second MAC entity may comprise a lower layer of an SCG 720, an upperlayer of an SCG 738, and one or more intermediate layers of an SCG 739.The lower layer of the SCG 720 may comprise, e.g., a BCH 722, a DL-SCH723, an UL-SCH 724, and a RACH 725. The one or more intermediate layersof the SCG 739 may comprise, e.g., one or more HARQ processes 726, oneor more random access control processes 727, multiplexing and/orde-multiplexing processes 729, logical channel prioritization on theuplink processes 730, and a control processes 728 providing control forthe above processes in the one or more intermediate layers of the SCG739. The upper layer of the SCG 738 may comprise, e.g., a BCCH 732, aDCCH 714, a DTCH 735, and a MAC control 736.

Serving cells may be grouped in a TA group (TAG). Serving cells in oneTAG may use the same timing reference. For a given TAG, a wirelessdevice may use at least one downlink carrier as a timing reference. Fora given TAG, a wireless device may synchronize uplink subframe and frametransmission timing of uplink carriers belonging to the same TAG.Serving cells having an uplink to which the same TA uses may correspondto serving cells hosted by the same receiver. A wireless devicesupporting multiple TAs may support two or more TA groups. One TA groupmay include the PCell and may be called a primary TAG (pTAG). In amultiple TAG configuration, at least one TA group may not include thePCell and may be called a secondary TAG (sTAG). Carriers within the sameTA group may use the same TA value and/or the same timing reference. IfDC is configured, cells belonging to a cell group (e.g., MCG or SCG) maybe grouped into multiple TAGs including a pTAG and one or more sTAGs.

FIG. 8 shows example TAG configurations. In Example 1, a pTAG comprisesa PCell, and an sTAG comprises an SCell1. In Example 2, a pTAG comprisesa PCell and an SCell1, and an sTAG comprises an SCell2 and an SCell3. InExample 3, a pTAG comprises a PCell and an SCell1, and an sTAG1comprises an SCell2 and an SCell3, and an sTAG2 comprises a SCell4. Upto four TAGs may be supported in a cell group (MCG or SCG), and otherexample TAG configurations may also be provided. In various examples,structures and operations are described for use with a pTAG and an sTAG.Some of the examples may be used for configurations with multiple sTAGs.

An eNB may initiate an RA procedure, via PDCCH order, for an activatedSCell. The PDCCH order may be sent on a scheduling cell of this SCell.If cross carrier scheduling is configured for a cell, the schedulingcell may be different than the cell that is employed for preambletransmission, and the PDCCH order may include an SCell index. At least anon-contention based RA procedure may be supported for SCell(s) assignedto sTAG(s).

FIG. 9 shows an example of random access processes, and a correspondingmessage flow, in a secondary TAG. A base station, such as an eNB, maytransmit an activation command 900 to a wireless device, such as a UE.The activation command 900 may be transmitted to activate an SCell. Thebase station may also transmit a PDDCH order 901 to the wireless device,which may be transmitted, e.g., after the activation command 900. Thewireless device may begin to perform a RACH process for the SCell, whichmay be initiated, e.g., after receiving the PDDCH order 901. A wirelessdevice may transmit to the base station (e.g., as part of a RACHprocess) a preamble 902 (e.g., Msg1), such as a random access preamble(RAP). The preamble 902 may be transmitted based on the PDCCH order 901.The wireless device may transmit the preamble 902 via an SCell belongingto an sTAG. Preamble transmission for SCells may be controlled by anetwork using PDCCH format 1A. The base station may send a random accessresponse (RAR) 903 (e.g., Msg2 message) to the wireless device. The RAR903 may be based on the preamble 902 transmission via the SCell. The RAR903 may be addressed to a random access radio network temporaryidentifier (RA-RNTI) in a PCell common search space (CSS). If thewireless device receives the RAR 903, the RACH process may conclude. TheRACH process may conclude, e.g., after or based on the wireless devicereceiving the RAR 903 from the base station. After the RACH process, thewireless device may transmit an uplink transmission 904. The uplinktransmission 904 may comprise uplink packets transmitted via the sameSCell used for the preamble 902 transmission.

Timing alignment (e.g., initial timing alignment) for communicationsbetween the wireless device and the base station may be performedthrough a random access procedure, such as described above regardingFIG. 9 . The random access procedure may involve a wireless device, suchas a UE, transmitting a random access preamble and a base station, suchas an eNB, responding with an initial TA command NTA (amount of timingadvance) within a random access response window. The start of the randomaccess preamble may be aligned with the start of a corresponding uplinksubframe at the wireless device assuming NTA=0. The eNB may estimate theuplink timing from the random access preamble transmitted by thewireless device. The TA command may be derived by the eNB based on theestimation of the difference between the desired UL timing and theactual UL timing. The wireless device may determine the initial uplinktransmission timing relative to the corresponding downlink of the sTAGon which the preamble is transmitted.

The mapping of a serving cell to a TAG may be configured by a servingeNB with RRC signaling. The mechanism for TAG configuration andreconfiguration may be based on RRC signaling. If an eNB performs anSCell addition configuration, the related TAG configuration may beconfigured for the SCell. An eNB may modify the TAG configuration of anSCell by removing (e.g., releasing) the SCell and adding (e.g.,configuring) a new SCell (with the same physical cell ID and frequency)with an updated TAG ID. The new SCell with the updated TAG ID mayinitially be inactive subsequent to being assigned the updated TAG ID.The eNB may activate the updated new SCell and start scheduling packetson the activated SCell. In some examples, it may not be possible tochange the TAG associated with an SCell, but rather, the SCell may needto be removed and a new SCell may need to be added with another TAG. Forexample, if there is a need to move an SCell from an sTAG to a pTAG, atleast one RRC message, such as at least one RRC reconfiguration message,may be sent to the wireless device. The at least one RRC message may besent to the wireless device to reconfigure TAG configurations, e.g., byreleasing the SCell and configuring the SCell as a part of the pTAG. If,e.g., an SCell is added or configured without a TAG index, the SCell maybe explicitly assigned to the pTAG. The PCell may not change its TAgroup and may be a member of the pTAG.

In LTE Release-10 and Release-11 CA, a PUCCH transmission is onlytransmitted on a PCell (e.g., a PSCell) to an eNB. In LTE-Release 12 andearlier, a wireless device may transmit PUCCH information on one cell(e.g., a PCell or a PSCell) to a given eNB. As the number of CA capablewireless devices increase, and as the number of aggregated carriersincrease, the number of PUCCHs and the PUCCH payload size may increase.Accommodating the PUCCH transmissions on the PCell may lead to a highPUCCH load on the PCell. A PUCCH on an SCell may be used to offload thePUCCH resource from the PCell. More than one PUCCH may be configured.For example, a PUCCH on a PCell may be configured and another PUCCH onan SCell may be configured. One, two, or more cells may be configuredwith PUCCH resources for transmitting CSI, acknowledgment (ACK), and/ornon-acknowledgment (NACK) to a base station. Cells may be grouped intomultiple PUCCH groups, and one or more cell within a group may beconfigured with a PUCCH. In some examples, one SCell may belong to onePUCCH group. SCells with a configured PUCCH transmitted to a basestation may be called a PUCCH SCell, and a cell group with a commonPUCCH resource transmitted to the same base station may be called aPUCCH group.

A MAC entity may have a configurable timer, e.g., timeAlignmentTimer,per TAG. The timeAlignmentTimer may be used to control how long the MACentity considers the serving cells belonging to the associated TAG to beuplink time aligned. If a Timing Advance Command MAC control element isreceived, the MAC entity may use the Timing Advance Command for theindicated TAG; and/or the MAC entity may start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with a TAG that may be indicated by theTiming Advance Command MAC control element. If a Timing Advance Commandis received in a Random Access Response message for a serving cellbelonging to a TAG, the MAC entity may use the Timing Advance Commandfor this TAG and/or start or restart the timeAlignmentTimer associatedwith this TAG. Additionally or alternatively, if the Random AccessPreamble is not selected by the MAC entity, the MAC entity may use theTiming Advance Command for this TAG and/or start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG. If the timeAlignmentTimerassociated with this TAG is not running, the Timing Advance Command forthis TAG may be used, and the timeAlignmentTimer associated with thisTAG may be started. If the contention resolution is not successful, atimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG may be stopped. If thecontention resolution is successful, the MAC entity may ignore thereceived Timing Advance Command. The MAC entity may determine whetherthe contention resolution is successful or whether the contentionresolution is not successful.

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B show examples for interfaces between a 5G corenetwork (e.g., NGC) and base stations (e.g., gNB and eLTE eNB). A basestation, such as a gNB 1020, may be interconnected to an NGC 1010control plane employing an NG-C interface. The base station, e.g., thegNB 1020, may also be interconnected to an NGC 1010 user plane (e.g.,UPGW) employing an NG-U interface. As another example, a base station,such as an eLTE eNB 1040, may be interconnected to an NGC 1030 controlplane employing an NG-C interface. The base station, e.g., the eLTE eNB1040, may also be interconnected to an NGC 1030 user plane (e.g., UPGW)employing an NG-U interface. An NG interface may support a many-to-manyrelation between 5G core networks and base stations.

FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B, FIG. 11C, FIG. 11D, FIG. 11E, and FIG. 11F areexamples for architectures of tight interworking between a 5G RAN and anLTE RAN. The tight interworking may enable a multiplereceiver/transmitter (RX/TX) wireless device in an RRC_CONNECTED stateto be configured to utilize radio resources provided by two schedulerslocated in two base stations (e.g., an eLTE eNB and a base station). Thetwo base stations may be connected via non-ideal or ideal backhaul overthe Xx interface between an LTE eNB and a gNB, or over the Xn interfacebetween an eLTE eNB and a gNB. Base stations involved in tightinterworking for a certain wireless device may assume different roles.For example, a base station may act as a master base station or a basestation may act as a secondary base station. In tight interworking, awireless device may be connected to both a master base station and asecondary base station. Mechanisms implemented in tight interworking maybe extended to cover more than two base stations.

A master base station may be an LTE eNB 1102A or an LTE eNB 1102B, whichmay be connected to EPC nodes 1101A or 1101B, respectively. Thisconnection to EPC nodes may be, e.g., to an MME via the S1-C interfaceand/or to an S-GW via the S1-U interface. A secondary base station maybe a gNB 1103A or a gNB 1103B, either or both of which may be anon-standalone node having a control plane connection via an Xx-Cinterface to an LTE eNB (e.g., the LTE eNB 1102A or the LTE eNB 1102B).In the tight interworking architecture of FIG. 11A, a user plane for abase station (e.g., the gNB 1103A) may be connected to an S-GW (e.g.,the EPC 1101A) through an LTE eNB (e.g., the LTE eNB 1102A), via an Xx-Uinterface between the LTE eNB and the gNB, and via an S1-U interfacebetween the LTE eNB and the S-GW. In the architecture of FIG. 11B, auser plane for a base station (e.g., the gNB 1103B) may be connecteddirectly to an S-GW (e.g., the EPC 1101B) via an S1-U interface betweenthe base station and the S-GW.

A master base station may be a gNB 1103C or a gNB 1103D, which may beconnected to NGC nodes 1101C or 1101D, respectively. This connection toNGC nodes may be, e.g., to a control plane core node via the NG-Cinterface and/or to a user plane core node via the NG-U interface. Asecondary base station may be an eLTE eNB 1102C or an eLTE eNB 1102D,either or both of which may be a non-standalone node having a controlplane connection via an Xn-C interface to a base station (e.g., the gNB1103C or the gNB 1103D). In the tight interworking architecture of FIG.11C, a user plane for an eLTE eNB (e.g., the eLTE eNB 1102C) may beconnected to a user plane core node (e.g., the NGC 1101C) through a basestation (e.g., the gNB 1103C), via an Xn-U interface between the eLTEeNB and the gNB, and via an NG-U interface between the gNB and the userplane core node. In the architecture of FIG. 11D, a user plane for aneLTE eNB (e.g., the eLTE eNB 1102D) may be connected directly to a userplane core node (e.g., the NGC 1101D) via an NG-U interface between theeLTE eNB and the user plane core node.

A master base station may be an eLTE eNB 1102E or an eLTE eNB 1102F,which may be connected to NGC nodes 1101E or 1101F, respectively. Thisconnection to NGC nodes may be, e.g., to a control plane core node viathe NG-C interface and/or to a user plane core node via the NG-Uinterface. A secondary base station may be a gNB 1103E or a gNB 1103F,either or both of which may be a non-standalone node having a controlplane connection via an Xn-C interface to an eLTE eNB (e.g., the eLTEeNB 1102E or the eLTE eNB 1102F). In the tight interworking architectureof FIG. 11E, a user plane for a base station (e.g., the gNB 1103E) maybe connected to a user plane core node (e.g., the NGC 1101E) through aneLTE eNB (e.g., the eLTE eNB 1102E), via an Xn-U interface between theeLTE eNB and the gNB, and via an NG-U interface between the eLTE eNB andthe user plane core node. In the architecture of FIG. 11F, a user planefor a base station (e.g., the gNB 1103F) may be connected directly to auser plane core node (e.g., the NGC 1101F) via an NG-U interface betweenthe base station and the user plane core node.

FIG. 12A, FIG. 12B, and FIG. 12C are examples for radio protocolstructures of tight interworking bearers.

An LTE eNB 1201A may be an S1 master base station, and a gNB 1210A maybe an S1 secondary base station. An example of a radio protocolarchitecture for a split bearer and an SCG bearer is shown. The LTE eNB1201A may be connected to an EPC with a non-standalone gNB 1210A, via anXx interface between the PDCP 1206A and an NR RLC 1212A. The LTE eNB1201A may include protocol layers MAC 1202A, RLC 1203A and RLC 1204A,and PDCP 1205A and PDCP 1206A. An MCG bearer type may interface with thePDCP 1205A, and a split bearer type may interface with the PDCP 1206A.The gNB 1210A may include protocol layers NR MAC 1211A, NR RLC 1212A andNR RLC 1213A, and NR PDCP 1214A. An SCG bearer type may interface withthe NR PDCP 1214A.

A gNB 1201B may be an NG master base station, and an eLTE eNB 1210B maybe an NG secondary base station. An example of a radio protocolarchitecture for a split bearer and an SCG bearer is shown. The gNB1201B may be connected to an NGC with a non-standalone eLTE eNB 1210B,via an Xn interface between the NR PDCP 1206B and an RLC 1212B. The gNB1201B may include protocol layers NR MAC 1202B, NR RLC 1203B and NR RLC1204B, and NR PDCP 1205B and NR PDCP 1206B. An MCG bearer type mayinterface with the NR PDCP 1205B, and a split bearer type may interfacewith the NR PDCP 1206B. The eLTE eNB 1210B may include protocol layersMAC 1211B, RLC 1212B and RLC 1213B, and PDCP 1214B. An SCG bearer typemay interface with the PDCP 1214B.

An eLTE eNB 1201C may be an NG master base station, and a gNB 1210C maybe an NG secondary base station. An example of a radio protocolarchitecture for a split bearer and an SCG bearer is shown. The eLTE eNB1201C may be connected to an NGC with a non-standalone gNB 1210C, via anXn interface between the PDCP 1206C and an NR RLC 1212C. The eLTE eNB1201C may include protocol layers MAC 1202C, RLC 1203C and RLC 1204C,and PDCP 1205C and PDCP 1206C. An MCG bearer type may interface with thePDCP 1205C, and a split bearer type may interface with the PDCP 1206C.The gNB 1210C may include protocol layers NR MAC 1211C, NR RLC 1212C andNR RLC 1213C, and NR PDCP 1214C. An SCG bearer type may interface withthe NR PDCP 1214C.

In a 5G network, the radio protocol architecture that a particularbearer uses may depend on how the bearer is setup. At least threealternatives may exist, e.g., an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, and a splitbearer, such as shown in FIG. 12A, FIG. 12B, and FIG. 12C. The NR RRCmay be located in a master base station, and the SRBs may be configuredas an MCG bearer type and may use the radio resources of the master basestation. Tight interworking may have at least one bearer configured touse radio resources provided by the secondary base station. Tightinterworking may or may not be configured or implemented.

The wireless device may be configured with two MAC entities: e.g., oneMAC entity for a master base station, and one MAC entity for a secondarybase station. In tight interworking, the configured set of serving cellsfor a wireless device may comprise of two subsets: e.g., the Master CellGroup (MCG) including the serving cells of the master base station, andthe Secondary Cell Group (SCG) including the serving cells of thesecondary base station.

At least one cell in a SCG may have a configured UL CC and one of them,e.g., a PSCell (or the PCell of the SCG, which may also be called aPCell), is configured with PUCCH resources. If the SCG is configured,there may be at least one SCG bearer or one split bearer. If one or moreof a physical layer problem or a random access problem is detected on aPSCell, if the maximum number of (NR) RLC retransmissions associatedwith the SCG has been reached, and/or if an access problem on a PSCellduring an SCG addition or during an SCG change is detected, then: an RRCconnection re-establishment procedure may not be triggered, ULtransmissions towards cells of the SCG may be stopped, a master basestation may be informed by the wireless device of a SCG failure type,and/or for a split bearer the DL data transfer over the master basestation may be maintained. The RLC AM bearer may be configured for thesplit bearer. Like the PCell, a PSCell may not be de-activated. A PSCellmay be changed with an SCG change, e.g., with security key change and aRACH procedure. A direct bearer type change, between a split bearer andan SCG bearer, may not be supported. Simultaneous configuration of anSCG and a split bearer may not be supported.

A master base station and a secondary base station may interact. Themaster base station may maintain the RRM measurement configuration ofthe wireless device. The master base station may determine to ask asecondary base station to provide additional resources (e.g., servingcells) for a wireless device. This determination may be based on, e.g.,received measurement reports, traffic conditions, and/or bearer types.If a request from the master base station is received, a secondary basestation may create a container that may result in the configuration ofadditional serving cells for the wireless device, or the secondary basestation may determine that it has no resource available to do so. Themaster base station may provide at least part of the AS configurationand the wireless device capabilities to the secondary base station,e.g., for wireless device capability coordination. The master basestation and the secondary base station may exchange information about awireless device configuration such as by using RRC containers (e.g.,inter-node messages) carried in Xn or Xx messages. The secondary basestation may initiate a reconfiguration of its existing serving cells(e.g., PUCCH towards the secondary base station). The secondary basestation may determine which cell is the PSCell within the SCG. Themaster base station may not change the content of the RRC configurationprovided by the secondary base station. If an SCG is added and/or an SCGSCell is added, the master base station may provide the latestmeasurement results for the SCG cell(s). Either or both of a master basestation and a secondary base station may know the SFN and subframeoffset of each other by OAM, (e.g., for the purpose of DRX alignment andidentification of a measurement gap). If a new SCG SCell is added,dedicated RRC signaling may be used for sending required systeminformation of the cell, such as for CA, except, e.g., for the SFNacquired from an MIB of the PSCell of an SCG.

FIG. 13A and FIG. 13B show examples for base station deployment. A core1301 and a core 1310 may interface with other nodes via RAN-CNinterfaces. In a non-centralized deployment example, the full protocolstack (e.g., NR RRC, NR PDCP, NR RLC, NR MAC, and NR PHY) may besupported at one node, such as a gNB 1302, a gNB 1303, and/or an eLTEeNB or LTE eNB 1304. These nodes (e.g., the gNB 1302, the gNB 1303, andthe eLTE eNB or LTE eNB 1304) may interface with one of more of eachother via respective inter-BS interface. In a centralized deploymentexample, upper layers of a base station may be located in a Central Unit(CU) 1311, and lower layers of the base station may be located inDistributed Units (DU) 1312, 1313, and 1314. The CU-DU interface (e.g.,Fs interface) connecting CU 1311 and DUs 1312, 1312, and 1314 may beideal or non-ideal. The Fs-C may provide a control plane connection overthe Fs interface, and the Fs-U may provide a user plane connection overthe Fs interface. In the centralized deployment, different functionalsplit options between the CU 1311 and the DUs 1312, 1313, and 1314 maybe possible by locating different protocol layers (e.g., RAN functions)in the CU 1311 and in the DU 1312, 1313, and 1314. The functional splitmay support flexibility to move the RAN functions between the CU 1311and the DUs 1312, 1313, and 1314 depending on service requirementsand/or network environments. The functional split option may changeduring operation (e.g., after the Fs interface setup procedure), or thefunctional split option may change only in the Fs setup procedure (e.g.,the functional split option may be static during operation after Fssetup procedure).

FIG. 14 shows examples for different functional split options of acentralized base station deployment. Element numerals that are followedby “A” or “B” designations in FIG. 14 may represent the same elements indifferent traffic flows, e.g., either receiving data (e.g., data 1402A)or sending data (e.g., 1402B). In the split option example 1, an NR RRC1401 may be in a CU, and an NR PDCP 1403, an NR RLC (e.g., comprising aHigh NR RLC 1404 and/or a Low NR RLC 1405), an NR MAC (e.g., comprisinga High NR MAC 1406 and/or a Low NR MAC 1407), an NR PHY (e.g.,comprising a High NR PHY 1408 and/or a LOW NR PHY 1409), and an RF 1410may be in a DU. In the split option example 2, the NR RRC 1401 and theNR PDCP 1403 may be in a CU, and the NR RLC, the NR MAC, the NR PHY, andthe RF 1410 may be in a DU. In the split option example 3, the NR RRC1401, the NR PDCP 1403, and a partial function of the NR RLC (e.g., theHigh NR RLC 1404) may be in a CU, and the other partial function of theNR RLC (e.g., the Low NR RLC 1405), the NR MAC, the NR PHY, and the RF1410 may be in a DU. In the split option example 4, the NR RRC 1401, theNR PDCP 1403, and the NR RLC may be in a CU, and the NR MAC, the NR PHY,and the RF 1410 may be in a DU. In the split option example 5, the NRRRC 1401, the NR PDCP 1403, the NR RLC, and a partial function of the NRMAC (e.g., the High NR MAC 1406) may be in a CU, and the other partialfunction of the NR MAC (e.g., the Low NR MAC 1407), the NR PHY, and theRF 1410 may be in a DU. In the split option example 6, the NR RRC 1401,the NR PDCP 1403, the NR RLC, and the NR MAC may be in CU, and the NRPHY and the RF 1410 may be in a DU. In the split option example 7, theNR RRC 1401, the NR PDCP 1403, the NR RLC, the NR MAC, and a partialfunction of the NR PHY (e.g., the High NR PHY 1408) may be in a CU, andthe other partial function of the NR PHY (e.g., the Low NR PHY 1409) andthe RF 1410 may be in a DU. In the split option example 8, the NR RRC1401, the NR PDCP 1403, the NR RLC, the NR MAC, and the NR PHY may be ina CU, and the RF 1410 may be in a DU.

The functional split may be configured per CU, per DU, per wirelessdevice, per bearer, per slice, and/or with other granularities. In a perCU split, a CU may have a fixed split, and DUs may be configured tomatch the split option of the CU. In a per DU split, each DU may beconfigured with a different split, and a CU may provide different splitoptions for different DUs. In a per wireless device split, a basestation (e.g., a CU and a DU) may provide different split options fordifferent wireless devices. In a per bearer split, different splitoptions may be utilized for different bearer types. In a per slicesplice, different split options may be used for different slices.

A new radio access network (new RAN) may support different networkslices, which may allow differentiated treatment customized to supportdifferent service requirements with end to end scope. The new RAN mayprovide a differentiated handling of traffic for different networkslices that may be pre-configured, and the new RAN may allow a singleRAN node to support multiple slices. The new RAN may support selectionof a RAN part for a given network slice, e.g., by one or more sliceID(s) or NSSAI(s) provided by a wireless device or provided by an NGC(e.g., an NG CP). The slice ID(s) or NSSAI(s) may identify one or moreof pre-configured network slices in a PLMN. For an initial attach, awireless device may provide a slice ID and/or an NSSAI, and a RAN node(e.g., a base station) may use the slice ID or the NSSAI for routing aninitial NAS signaling to an NGC control plane function (e.g., an NG CP).If a wireless device does not provide any slice ID or NSSAI, a RAN nodemay send a NAS signaling to a default NGC control plane function. Forsubsequent accesses, the wireless device may provide a temporary ID fora slice identification, which may be assigned by the NGC control planefunction, to enable a RAN node to route the NAS message to a relevantNGC control plane function. The new RAN may support resource isolationbetween slices. If the RAN resource isolation is implemented, shortageof shared resources in one slice does not cause a break in a servicelevel agreement for another slice.

The amount of data traffic carried over networks is expected to increasefor many years to come. The number of users and/or devices is increasingand each user/device accesses an increasing number and variety ofservices, e.g., video delivery, large files, and images. This requiresnot only high capacity in the network, but also provisioning very highdata rates to meet customers' expectations on interactivity andresponsiveness. More spectrum may be required for network operators tomeet the increasing demand. Considering user expectations of high datarates along with seamless mobility, it is beneficial that more spectrumbe made available for deploying macro cells as well as small cells forcommunication systems.

Striving to meet the market demands, there has been increasing interestfrom operators in deploying some complementary access utilizingunlicensed spectrum to meet the traffic growth. This is exemplified bythe large number of operator-deployed Wi-Fi networks and the 3GPPstandardization of LTE/WLAN interworking solutions. This interestindicates that unlicensed spectrum, if present, may be an effectivecomplement to licensed spectrum for network operators, e.g., to helpaddress the traffic explosion in some examples, such as hotspot areas.Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) offers an alternative for operators tomake use of unlicensed spectrum, e.g., if managing one radio network,offering new possibilities for optimizing the network's efficiency.

Listen-before-talk (clear channel assessment) may be implemented fortransmission in an LAA cell. In a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure,equipment may use a clear channel assessment (CCA) check before usingthe channel. For example, the CCA may utilize at least energy detectionto determine the presence or absence of other signals on a channel todetermine if a channel is occupied or clear, respectively. For example,European and Japanese regulations mandate the usage of LBT in theunlicensed bands. Apart from regulatory requirements, carrier sensingvia LBT may be one way for fair sharing of the unlicensed spectrum.

Discontinuous transmission on an unlicensed carrier with limited maximumtransmission duration may be enabled. Some of these functions may besupported by one or more signals to be transmitted from the beginning ofa discontinuous LAA downlink transmission. Channel reservation may beenabled by the transmission of signals, by an LAA node, after gainingchannel access, e.g., via successful LBT operation, so that other nodesthat receive the transmitted signal with energy above a certainthreshold sense the channel to be occupied. Functions that may need tobe supported by one or more signals for LAA operation with discontinuousdownlink transmission may include one or more of the following:detection of the LAA downlink transmission (including cellidentification) by wireless devices, time synchronization of wirelessdevices, and frequency synchronization of wireless devices.

DL LAA design may employ subframe boundary alignment according to LTE-Acarrier aggregation timing relationships across serving cells aggregatedby CA. This may not indicate that the eNB transmissions may start onlyat the subframe boundary. LAA may support transmitting PDSCH if not allOFDM symbols are available for transmission in a subframe according toLBT. Delivery of necessary control information for the PDSCH may also besupported.

LBT procedures may be employed for fair and friendly coexistence of LAAwith other operators and technologies operating in unlicensed spectrum.LBT procedures on a node attempting to transmit on a carrier inunlicensed spectrum may require the node to perform a clear channelassessment to determine if the channel is free for use. An LBT proceduremay involve at least energy detection to determine if the channel isbeing used. For example, regulatory requirements in some regions, e.g.,in Europe, specify an energy detection threshold such that if a nodereceives energy greater than this threshold, the node assumes that thechannel is not free. Nodes may follow such regulatory requirements. Anode may optionally use a lower threshold for energy detection than thatspecified by regulatory requirements. LAA may employ a mechanism toadaptively change the energy detection threshold, e.g., LAA may employ amechanism to adaptively lower the energy detection threshold from anupper bound. Adaptation mechanism may not preclude static or semi-staticsetting of the threshold. A Category 4 LBT mechanism or other type ofLBT mechanisms may be implemented.

Various example LBT mechanisms may be implemented. For some signals, insome implementation scenarios, in some situations, and/or in somefrequencies, no LBT procedure may performed by the transmitting entity.For example, Category 2 (e.g., LBT without random back-off) may beimplemented. The duration of time that the channel is sensed to be idlebefore the transmitting entity transmits may be deterministic. Forexample, Category 3 (e.g., LBT with random back-off with a contentionwindow of fixed size) may be implemented. The LBT procedure may have thefollowing procedure as one of its components. The transmitting entitymay draw a random number N within a contention window. The size of thecontention window may be specified by the minimum and maximum value ofN. The size of the contention window may be fixed. The random number Nmay be employed in the LBT procedure to determine the duration of timethat the channel is sensed to be idle, e.g., before the transmittingentity transmits on the channel. For example, Category 4 (e.g., LBT withrandom back-off with a contention window of variable size) may beimplemented. The transmitting entity may draw a random number N within acontention window. The size of contention window may be specified by theminimum and maximum value of N. The transmitting entity may vary thesize of the contention window if drawing the random number N. The randomnumber N may be used in the LBT procedure to determine the duration oftime that the channel is sensed to be idle, e.g., before thetransmitting entity transmits on the channel.

LAA may employ uplink LBT at the wireless device. The UL LBT scheme maybe different from the DL LBT scheme, e.g., by using different LBTmechanisms or parameters. These differences in schemes may be due to theLAA UL being based on scheduled access, which may affect a wirelessdevice's channel contention opportunities. Other considerationsmotivating a different UL LBT scheme may include, but are not limitedto, multiplexing of multiple wireless devices in a single subframe.

LAA may use uplink LBT at the wireless device. The UL LBT scheme may bedifferent from the DL LBT scheme, e.g., by using different LBTmechanisms or parameters. These differences in schemes may be due to theLAA UL being based on scheduled access, which may affect a wirelessdevice's channel contention opportunities. Other considerationsmotivating a different UL LBT scheme may include, but are not limitedto, multiplexing of multiple wireless devices in a single subframe.

A DL transmission burst may be a continuous transmission from a DLtransmitting node, e.g., with no transmission immediately before orafter from the same node on the same CC. An UL transmission burst from awireless device perspective may be a continuous transmission from awireless device, e.g., with no transmission immediately before or afterfrom the same wireless device on the same CC. A UL transmission burstmay be defined from a wireless device perspective or from an eNBperspective. If an eNB is operating DL and UL LAA over the sameunlicensed carrier, DL transmission burst(s) and UL transmissionburst(s) on LAA may be scheduled in a TDM manner over the sameunlicensed carrier. An instant in time may be part of a DL transmissionburst or part of an UL transmission burst.

An uplink grant, a group-common DCI, and/or HARQ feedback indicationmechanism used for uplink transmissions without grant may indicate anACK or NACK (implicitly or explicitly) to reduce a signaling overheadand thereby to fulfill one or more service requirements (e.g., URLLC). Abase station may configure a wireless device with uplink transmissionswithout grant (GF UL). The resources for uplink transmission schemewithout grant may be semi-statically configured and/or reconfigured. Theresource configuration may at least comprise physical resources in atime and/or frequency domain and reference signal (RS) parameters. Theconfiguration parameters may indicate at least a modulation and codingscheme (MCS), redundancy version, and/or a number of repetitions (e.g.,any number K). A wireless device may be configured with multiple numbersof repetitions. For uplink transmissions without grant, an RS may betransmitted with data. A similar channel structure as in a grant-basedtransmission may be used for uplink transmissions without grant. Acommon DMRS structure may be used for downlink and uplink, for example,in cyclic prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM). For an uplink transmission with orwithout grant, K repetitions, including initial transmission, withand/or without a same RV, and with and/or without a same MCS for thesame transport block may be used. Frequency hopping may be used betweenan initial transmission and a repetition and/or retransmission, and/orbetween repetitions. For uplink transmissions without grant, a wirelessdevice may continue repetitions for a transport block (TB), for example,until either a negative acknowledgement (NACK) is received from a basestation or the number of repetitions for the TB reaches K. For awireless device configured with K repetitions for a TB transmission withand/or without grant, the wireless device may continue repeating for theTB until an uplink grant is successfully received for a slot/mini-slotfor the same TB, an acknowledgement/indication of successful receptionof the TB from a base station, and/or the number of repetitions for thatTB reaches K. A wireless device may be identified based on a wirelessdevice ID, a RS sequence/configuration for the wireless device, and/orradio resources configured for uplink transmission.

Time and/or frequency resources for uplink transmissions without grantmay be configured in a wireless device-specific manner. The network mayconfigure the same time/frequency resources and/or RS parameters tomultiple wireless devices. The base station may avoid collision withnetwork implementations. The base station may identify a wireless deviceID based on physical layer parameters, such as time and/or frequencyresources and/or RS (e.g., demodulation reference signals (DMRS))resources and/or parameters. Both DFTS-OFDM and CP-OFDM may be supportedfor uplink transmissions without grant. Uplink transmissions withoutgrant may support one or more HARQ processes. A HARQ process ID may beidentified based on resources used for uplink transmissions withoutgrant. Such resources may comprise, for example, time and/or frequencyresources of uplink transmissions without grant, and/or RS parametersfor HARQ process identification for both transmissions with and withoutgrant.

A wireless device may be configured with a plurality of parameters foruplink data transmission without grant. A wireless device may beconfigured with reference symbol and time and frequency resources in awireless device-specific manner. The time and frequency resourcesconfigured for a wireless device may or may not collide with those ofanother wireless device. DFTS-OFDM and CP-OFDM may be supported foruplink transmissions without grant. Uplink transmissions without grantmay support a plurality of HARQ processes. L1 signaling may be used foractivation and/or deactivation of uplink transmissions without grant. L1signaling may be used for modification of parameters configured by RRC.Parameters may comprise time domain resource allocation, frequencydomain resource allocation (e.g., in terms of RBs or RBGs), wirelessdevice-specific DMRS configuration, a modulation and coding scheme(MCS), a transport block size (TBS), etc. L1 signaling may be used forswitching to grant-based re-transmission for the same TB. L1 signalingmay be based on wireless device-specific DCI (e.g., uplink grant) or agroup common DCI. RRC configuration and/or reconfiguration of a set ofresource and parameters may comprise transmission interval, physicalresource such as time domain resource allocation, frequency domainresource allocation, for example in terms of RBs or RBG(s), wirelessdevice-specific DMRS configuration, etc. A plurality of physicalresources may be configured in the transmission interval. One or morerepetitions of the same one or more TBs may be performed after aninitial transmission. A repetition in the one or more repetitions may beperformed in the same resource used for initial transmission. Arepetition in the one or more repetitions may be in a different resourcethan the initial transmission. The radio resources used for initialtransmission and repetition may or may not be contiguous in time.

Uplink transmissions without grant may be configured and/or activatedwith a plurality of types. As a first type, UL data transmission withoutgrant may be activated/deactivated based on RRC configuration and/orreconfiguration without L1 signaling. As a second type, UL datatransmission without grant may be based on both RRC configuration and L1signaling for activation/deactivation. As a third type, UL datatransmission without grant may be based on RRC configuration and mayallow L1 signaling to modify some parameters configured by RRC. Forfirst type UL data transmission without grant, the RRC configurationand/or reconfiguration may comprise periodicity and offset of a resourcewith respect to SFN=0, time domain resource allocation, frequency domainresource allocation, wireless device-specific DMRS configuration,MCS/TBS, a number of repetitions K, power control related parameters,HARQ related parameters, etc. For the second type UL transmissionwithout grant, some of parameters, for example, periodicity and powercontrol related parameters, may be RRC configured. For the second typeUL transmission without grant, the parameters may not be RRC configuredand/or updated. An offset value with respect to a timing reference, timedomain resource allocation, frequency domain resource allocation,wireless device-specific DMRS configuration, and/or MCS/TBS may beindicated by L1 signaling. The number of repetitions K may be RRCconfigured and/or indicated by L1 signaling.

An uplink grant, transmitted by a base station based on uplinktransmissions without grant, may indicate an ACK for the uplinktransmissions without grant. The uplink grant may be a dynamic grant,for example, for the same HARQ process as the uplink transmissionswithout grant. An uplink grant for a new data transmission mayimplicitly indicate an ACK for uplink transmissions without grant. Anuplink grant for the same TB initially transmitted without grant mayindicate NACK for uplink transmissions without grant. A group-common DCImay be used to indicate one or more HARQ feedbacks of one or morewireless devices for uplink transmissions without grant. The groupcommon DCI may indicate an ACK and/or a NACK.

The wireless device may use a timer to determine an implicit and/orexplicit HARQ feedback (e.g., ACK and/or NACK) corresponding to uplinktransmissions without grant. The timer value may be configured for thewireless device via RRC. The wireless device may receive one or more RRCmessages indicating the timer value. The wireless device may startand/or restart the timer based on uplink transmissions without grant,for example, one or more TBs corresponding to uplink transmissionswithout grant. A base station may inform a wireless device of a positiveand/or negative acknowledgements of the one or more TBs transmissionswith a timer. The wireless device may assume an ACK based on the timerexpiring and not receiving a NACK after K repetitions. The wirelessdevice may assume a NACK based on the timer expiring and the wirelessdevice not receiving an ACK. The wireless device may assume a NACKcorresponding to uplink transmissions without grant based on receiving agrant (e.g., dynamic grant) for retransmission of the same one or moreTBs in a first uplink transmissions without grant. The grant may includethe same HARQ process and with an indication of NDI (e.g., no new data).The wireless device may assume a NACK corresponding to uplinktransmissions without grant based on receiving a grant (e.g., a dynamicgrant) for retransmission of the same one or more TB in a first uplinktransmissions without grant in a period of time. The period of time maybe configured for the wireless device. The wireless device may receivean RRC message indicating the period of time. The period of time may bepre-configured. The period of time may be indicated and/or updated by L1signaling.

A base station may configure a wireless device with one or more RNTIsfor uplink transmissions without grant. The base station may configurean RNTI for uplink transmissions without grant per configuration, perservice, per type (e.g., the first, second, and/or third types) and/orper a wireless device.

A base station may configure a wireless device with a first RNTI. Thefirst RNTI may be a group-common RNTI. The base station may transmitdownlink control information (DCI) (e.g., a group common DCI)corresponding to the first RNTI. The DCI may indicate HARQ feedback(e.g., ACK and/or NACK) corresponding to one or more uplinktransmissions (e.g., one or more TBs corresponding to one or more uplinktransmission) without uplink grant (e.g., for semi-persistent scheduling(SPS) and/or grant-free resource configuration) for one or more wirelessdevices. The DCI may be scrambled based on the first RNTI. A wirelessdevice may monitor a common search space to detect the DCI correspondingto the first RNTI. The base station may transmit and/or indicate a NACK(e.g., using the DCI) corresponding to one or more TBs of the wirelessdevice and the wireless device may assume an ACK (e.g., an implicit ACK)if no NACK is received within a period of time. For example, the periodof time may be configured by a base station with a timer value (e.g.,via RRC messages). The base station may transmit and/or indicate an ACK(e.g., using a DCI) and the wireless device may assume a NACK (e.g., animplicit NACK) if no ACK is received within a period of time. The periodfor time may be configured for the wireless device. The base station maytransmit an RRC message indicating the period of time. The period oftime may be pre-configured. The wireless device may transmit up to afirst number of repetitions of a same one or more TBs corresponding touplink transmissions without grant. The period of time may be or may notbe based on the duration that the first number of repetitions of thesame one or more TBs corresponding to the uplink transmission isreceived. The wireless device may monitor for the DCI at least for aportion of the period of time. The wireless device may stop monitoringthe DCI based on receiving the ACK and/or NACK corresponding to theuplink transmissions without grant. The DCI may comprise ACK and/or NACKfor a plurality of wireless devices. The plurality of wireless devicesmay be configured with the same first RNTI used for transmission of theDCI. The plurality of wireless devices configured with the same firstRNTI may monitor the search space, may detect the same DCI, and mayidentify HARQ feedback corresponding to the wireless devicetransmissions. The DCI may comprise a plurality of HARQ feedbacks (e.g.,corresponding to a plurality of TBs) for the same wireless device. Themapping between a HARQ feedback and a corresponding wireless deviceand/or a TB in a plurality of TBs transmitted by a wireless device maybe based on a rule and/or indicated (e.g., implicitly or explicitly) bythe DCI and/or RRC messages.

Uplink demodulation reference signals (DMRS) may be used for channelestimation and/or coherent demodulation of PUSCH and PUCCH. A basestation may configure a wireless device with DMRS configurationparameters. The wireless device may receive one or more RRC messages.The one or more RRC messages may comprise a DMRS-Config IE. TheDMRS-Config IE may comprise DMRS configuration parameters. The followingis an example DMRS-Config IE:

DMRS-Config-r11 ::= CHOICE { release NULL, setup SEQUENCE {scramblingIdentity-r11 INTEGER (0..503), scramblingIdentity2-r11 INTEGER(0..503) } } DMRS-Config-v1310 ::= SEQUENCE { dmrs-tableAlt-r13ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL }

Parameters scramblingIdentity and/or scramblingIdentity2 may indicate aparameter nDMRS,iID. The parameter dmrs-tableAlt may indicate whether touse an alternative table for DMRS upon PDSCH transmission. However, anyDMRS-Config configuration and/or the DMRS-Config configurationparameters may be used.

Uplink (UL) transmission without a UL grant, which may be referred to asa grant-free (GF) UL transmission may be used for one or more servicetypes (e.g., URLLC). A base station may allocate to a wireless deviceone or more GF UL radio resources. The wireless device configured by thebase station to use the GF UL radio resources may transmit one or moredata packets via the GF UL radio resources without a UL grant, which mayresult in reducing the signaling overhead relative to a GB ULtransmission. Some service types may have strict requirements, forexample, in terms of latency and reliability, such as URLLC. Theseservice types may be candidates for which a base station may configure awireless device with the GF UL transmission. The wireless deviceconfigured with the GF UL radio resource may skip a UL transmission onthe GF UL radio resource, for example, if there is no data to transmit.

The GF UL transmission may support multiple wireless devices to accessthe same GF UL radio resources, for example, a GF radio resource pool. Awireless device may achieve lower latency and/or lower signalingoverhead, relative to a GB UL transmission, by using a GF radio resourcepool. A GF radio resource pool may be defined as a subset of one or moreradio resources from a common radio resource set (e.g., from all uplinkshared channel radio resources). The GF radio resource pool may be usedto allocate exclusively or partially overlapped one or more radioresources for GF UL transmissions in a cell, or to organize frequencyand/or time reuse between different cells or parts of a cell (e.g.,cell-center and cell-edge).

There may be a collision between the GF UL transmissions of two or morewireless devices if a base station configures multiple wireless deviceswith the same (or partially overlapped) GF radio resource pools. Thebase station may configure one or more parameters to assign a wirelessdevice-specific demodulation reference signal (DMRS) along with the GFradio resource pool configuration to identify a wireless device ID. Theone or more parameters may indicate at least one of a root index of aset of Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequences, a cyclic shift (CS) index, a TDMand/or FDM pattern index, or an orthogonal cover code (OCC) sequences orindex.

For wireless device ID identification from GF radio resource pools, abase station may use one or more preamble sequences that may betransmitted together with the PUSCH data. The one or more preamblesequences may be designed to be reliable enough and to meet thedetection requirement of a service type, such as URLLC. For wirelessdevices configured with a GF radio resource pool, a preamble sequencemay be uniquely allocated to a wireless device. A base station mayconfigure different GF radio resources for different sets of wirelessdevices such that the preamble sequences may be reused in different GFradio resources. To have reliable detection performance, the preamblesequences may be mutually orthogonal, for example, orthogonality betweenZC root sequences with different cyclic shifts. A wireless device maytransmit one or more preambles together with the data block in a firststep and receive a response in a second step. The data may be repeated Ktimes, depending on a base station configuration. The one or morepreambles may not be repeated. The response from a base station may be aUL grant or a dedicated ACK and/or NACK transmitted in the form ofdownlink control information.

A grant-free resource pool configuration may not be known to wirelessdevices. A GF resource pool configuration may be coordinated betweendifferent cells for interference coordination. If the GF resourcepool(s) are known to wireless devices, those may be semi-staticallyconfigured by wireless device-specific RRC signaling or non-wirelessdevice-specific RRC signaling, for example, via broadcasting a systeminformation block. The RRC signaling for GF radio resource configurationmay comprise one or more parameters indicating at least one offollowing: periodicity and offset of a resource with respect to SFN=0,time domain resource allocation, frequency domain resource allocation,wireless device-specific DMRS configuration, a modulation and codingscheme (MCS), a transport block size (TBS), number of repetitions K, ahopping pattern, HARQ related parameters, and power control relatedparameters. A wireless device may activate the GF UL transmissionconfigured by the RRC signaling based on receiving the RRC signalingwithout an additional signaling.

An L1 activation signaling may be used with RRC signaling to configureand/or activate a GF configuration. RRC signaling may configure one ormore parameters of GF UL transmission to the wireless device. L1activation signaling may activate or deactivate the configured GF ULtransmission. L1 activation signaling may be used to configure, adjust,modify, and/or update one or more parameters associated with GF ULtransmission.

The L1 activation signaling may be transmitted via PDCCH in the form ofa DCI. For example, a DCI may be used for UL semi-persistent scheduling(SPS). A base station may assign a radio network temporary identifier(RNTI) for a wireless device along with GF configuration parameters inthe RRC signaling. With the assigned RNTI, wireless device may monitorthe PDCCH to receive the L1 activation signaling masked by the RNTI.

The RRC configuration and/or reconfiguration of GF UL transmissionwithout UL grant may comprise at least one of following: periodicity ofa resource and power control related parameters. The L1 activationsignaling may provide at least one of the following parameters for theGF resource: an offset associated with the periodicity with respect to atiming reference, time domain resource allocation, frequency domainresource allocation, wireless device-specific DMRS configuration, anMCS/TBS value, HARQ related parameters, number of repetitions K, and ahopping pattern.

An MCS may be indicated by the wireless device within the grant-freedata. To avoid the blind decoding of MCS indication, a limited number ofMCS levels may be pre-configured by a base station. For example, K bitsmay be used to indicate MCS of grant-free data. The number of resourceelements used to transmit MCS indication in a resource group may besemi-statically configured. In GF operation, there may be one common MCSpredefined for all wireless devices. There may be a tradeoff between aspectrum efficiency and decoding reliability. For example, the spectrumefficiency may be reduced if a low level of MCS is used as the datatransmission reliability improves. A base station may predefine amapping rule between multiple time and/or frequency resources for ULgrant-free transmission and MCSs. A wireless device may select anappropriate MCS according to a DL measurement and associated time and/orfrequency resources to transmit UL data. A wireless device may choose aMCS based on the channel status and increase the resource utilization.

If a wireless device is configured with a GF UL transmission, the GF ULtransmission may be activated in different ways, including via RRCsignaling, via L1 activation signaling, and combinations thereof. Theuse of L1 activation signaling may depend on service types. For example,the dynamic activation (e.g., activation via L1 activation signaling)may not be supported in the base station or may be configurable based onservice and traffic considerations.

A base station may determine to configure a wireless device with orwithout L1 activation signaling. This determination may be based on, forexample, traffic pattern and/or latency requirements. With the L1activation signaling, a wireless device may transmit a data packet withthe configured time and/or frequency radio resource if the wirelessdevice receives an L1 activation signaling from the base station. If theL1 activation signaling is not configured, a wireless device may start aUL transmission with the configured GF radio resource at any moment orin a certain time interval (which may be configured by RRC signaling orpre-defined) if the configuration is completed. For example, a wirelessdevice may activate the GF UL transmission based on receiving the RRCsignaling configuring the GF UL transmission. The activation type (viaRRC signaling or via L1 activation signaling) may be pre-configured inNR.

RRC signaling, transmitted by a base station to a wireless device toconfigure a UL GF transmission, may comprise an indicator used forindicating whether the activation of the UL GF transmission may requirean L1 activation signaling. If the indicator indicates a requirement forL1 activation signaling, the wireless device may wait for L1 activationsignaling and activate the configured UL GF transmission based onreceiving the L1 activation signaling. If L1 activation signaling isused, the wireless device may transmit an acknowledgement based onreceiving L1 activation signaling to the base station. If the indicatorindicates no need of L1 activation signaling, the UL GF transmission maybe activated based on the RRC signaling configuring the GF ULtransmission. For the activation of GF UL transmission without the L1activation signaling, the wireless device may not determine when tostart the GF UL transmission. The base station and wireless device maypredefine the start timing based on a time offset and the transmissiontime interval (TTI) (e.g. a subframe, slot, and/or mini-slot, where thewireless device receive the RRC signaling) for the GF UL transmissionconfiguration. The RRC configuration may comprise one or more parametersindicating the start timing in terms of a subframe, slot, or mini-slot.

RRC signaling may not comprise an indicator whether the activation needsa L1 activation signaling. A wireless device may identify whether theconfigured GF transmission is activated by RRC signaling or L1activation signaling based on the format of the RRC configuration for GFUL transmission. For a GF UL transmission without L1 activationsignaling, the RRC signaling for configuring and activating the GF ULtransmission may comprise one or more parameters for the UL GFtransmission. For a GF UL transmission activated by the L1 activationsignaling, a RRC signaling may comprise a different number of parametersthat may be less than a number of parameters in the RRC signalingactivating the GF UL transmission. The absence and/or presence of one ormore parameters (or the number of parameters) in the RRC signaling maybe an implicit indicator for a wireless device to identify whether toactivate the GF UL transmission via RRC signaling or via L1 activationsignaling.

L1 activation signaling may comprise one or more parameters indicatingat least one of GF configuration, e.g., start timing of GF ULtransmission, GF time and frequency radio resources, DMRS parameters, amodulation and coding scheme, a transport block size, number ofrepetitions K, a hopping pattern, and power control parameters. A DCIformat used for the activation of the GF UL transmission may compriseone or more fields indicating a MCS for the GF UL transmission. The GFUL transmission requiring the L1 activation signaling may be configuredwith a RRC signaling that may not comprise one or more parametersindicating the MCS for the GF UL transmission. The MCS information maybe carried by a L1 signaling that activates the GF UL transmission. If awireless device receives a RRC signaling comprising a MCS for a GF ULtransmission, the wireless device may activate the GF UL transmissionbased on the RRC signaling without waiting for a L1 signaling. L1activation signaling may be configured to control network resource loadand utilization. For a delay sensitive service, the additionalactivation signaling may cause additional delay and may lead topotential service interruption or unavailability for the period of usingand requesting the activation. A base station may configure the wirelessdevice with a GF UL transmission such that the GF UL transmission isactivated based on the RRC signaling comprising a GF radio resourceconfiguration and transmission parameters.

GF radio resources may be over-allocated which may result in a waste ofradio resources for a few wireless devices. L1 signaling may be used toreconfigure the GF UL radio resource or one or more GF transmissionparameters. By allowing L1 signaling-based reconfiguration, wirelessdevices may periodically monitor a downlink control channel to detectthe L1 signaling scrambled by an RNTI that may indicate whether theconfigured GF radio resources or parameters have changed. Thismonitoring may increase the power consumption of a wireless device. As aresult, the periodicity to check the downlink control signaling may beconfigurable based on such monitoring and/or power consumption. Theperiodicity may be configured to any time period, such as every minute,every hour, or every radio frame. The periodicity to check downlinkcontrol signaling may be defined, configured, and/or semi-staticallyconfigured independent of a periodicity of GF radio resources of GF ULtransmission (e.g., to shorten the latency). For example, theperiodicity of GF radio resource may be less than 1 ms and theperiodicity to check downlink control signaling may be longer than 1 ms(e.g., tens of 1 millisecond, 1 minute, or 1 hour).

L1 deactivation signaling may be used for all services to releaseresources as fast as possible. For the GF UL transmission, a basestation may support a K-repetition of the same transport block (TB)transmission over the GF radio resource pool until one or moreconditions are met. The wireless device may continue the repetitions upto K times for the same TB until one or more of the following conditionsis met: if an UL grant (or HARQ ACK or HARQ NACK) is received from thebase station before the number of repetitions reaches K, the number ofrepetitions for the TB reaches K, or other termination condition ofrepetition may use.

The number of repetitions K may be a configurable parameter that may bewireless device-specific and/or cell-specific. A mini-slot or a symbolmay be a unit of the K-repetition. A base station may configure thenumber of this repetition and the radio resource in advance via one ormore RRC messages. The base station may transmit L1 activation signalingcomprising a parameter indicating the number of repetitions K. The basestation may assume a set of initial transmission and the repetition asone amount of the transmission. The base station may not be required toprepare the initial transmission and/or repetition. An extended TTI mayinclude the set of initial transmission and its one or more repetitions.The repetitions may not be necessarily contiguous in time. If therepetitions are contiguous in time, it may allow coherent combining. Ifthe repetitions are not contiguous in time, it may allow time diversity.

If the GF UL transmission of two wireless devices collides in the sameGF radio resource pool, a base station may fail to detect the data fromboth wireless devices. If the two wireless devices retransmit the datawithout UL grants, the two wireless devices may collide again. Hoppingmay be used to solve the collision problem if radio resources are sharedby multiple wireless devices. Hopping may randomize the collisionrelationship between wireless devices within a certain time interval toavoid persistent collision and/or to bring a diversity gain on thefrequency domain. A wireless device-specific hopping pattern may bepre-configured or may be indicated by RRC signaling or L1 activationsignaling. The wireless device-specific hopping pattern may be generatedbased on a known wireless device-specific ID, such as a wirelessdevice-specific DMRS index and/or RNTI. There may be many factorsconsidered for the hopping pattern design, such as the number ofresource units (RUs), the max number of wireless devices sharing thesame RU, the recently used RU index, the recent hopping index or thecurrent slot index, the information indicating recently used sequence,hopping pattern, and hopping rule. The sequence described above may be aDMRS, a spreading sequence, or a preamble sequence that may be wirelessdevice-specific.

The repetitions parameter K may be configured by one or more RRCmessages, L1 activation signaling, or a combination thereof. A wirelessdevice configured with the repetitions parameter K may transmit atransport block (TB) K times. The wireless device may transmit the TB Ktimes with the same redundancy version (RV) or transmit the TB K timeswith different RVs between the repetitions. For example, the RVdetermination for K repetitions may comprise the initial transmission.The RV determination may be fixed to a pre-defined single value or fixedto a pre-defined RV pattern comprising a plurality of RVs, for example,if the GF UL transmission is configured and activated by one or more RRCmessages. The RV determination may be configured by the one or more RRCmessages with a single value or a RV pattern comprising a plurality ofRVs. The RV determination may be fixed to a single value or fixed to apre-defined RV pattern comprising a plurality of RVs, for example, ifthe GF UL transmission is fully or partially configured by one or moreRRC messages and activated by an L1 activation signaling. The RVdetermination may be configured by the one or more RRC messages with asingle value or a RV pattern comprising a plurality of RVs, for example,if the GF UL transmission is fully or partially configured by one ormore RRC messages and activated by L1 activation signaling. The RVdetermination may be configured by the L1 activation signaling with asingle value or fixed to a RV pattern comprising a plurality of RVs, forexample, if the GF UL transmission is fully or partially configured byone or more RRC messages and activated by L1 activation signaling.

The base station may switch between GF and GB UL transmissions tobalance resource utilization, delay, and/or reliability requirements ofassociated services. The GF UL transmission may be based on asemi-static resource configuration that may be beneficial to reducelatency. Such a pre-defined resource configuration may be hard tosatisfy all potential services or packet sizes. The overhead may belarge, and the packet size for a service, such as URLLC, may bevariable. If a wireless device's data packet collides with otherwireless device's packets in the GF UL transmission, a re-attempt toaccess GF radio resources may not achieve the service requirements.Switching from GF to GB UL transmissions may be beneficial.

To support the switching between GF and GB UL transmissions, the initialtransmission on the pre-configured GF radio resources may includewireless device identification. Wireless device identification maycomprise explicit wireless device ID information (e.g., C-RNTI) orimplicit wireless device information (such as a DMRS cyclic shiftspecific signature). The wireless device may include buffer statusreporting (BSR) with the initial data transmission, for example, toinform a base station of whether a wireless device has remaining data totransmit. If a base station successfully decodes data transmitted by awireless device and determines that the wireless device has remainingdata to transmit (e.g. from a BSR report), the base station may switch atype of scheduling for wireless device from GF to GB UL transmissions.If a base station fails to decode data transmitted by the wirelessdevice but successfully detects the wireless device ID from the uniquelyassigned sequence (e.g., preamble and/or DMRS), the base station mayswitch a type of scheduling for wireless device from GF to GB ULtransmissions. The UL grant for subsequent data transmissions may bewith CRC scrambled by the wireless device's RNTI, which may bedetermined either by explicit signaling in the initial transmission orimplicitly by the DMRS cyclic shift.

One of the termination conditions for the K-repetitions may be areception of a DCI comprising a UL grant that schedules a UL(re)transmission for the same TB. A base station may assign dedicatedresources for retransmission to ensure the TB to be delivered within thelatency budget. This behavior may be classified as scheduling switchingfrom GF to GB operation. A wireless device may need to link the receivedgrant with the transmitted TB to understand which TB to be retransmittedif there are multiple ongoing transmissions at the wireless device. Thewireless device and base station may have the same notion of TB (and/orRV) counting.

For GF operation, the TB counting may not be possible if a base stationmay not detect one or more TBs due to collisions. A variety oftechniques may be used to make an association between a DCI with a TB.If there are no other transmissions at the wireless device side, adirect association of the DCI with a TB that is being transmitted may beused. If there are at least two different TBs, a wireless device maydetermine that the DCI is for a particular TB by using an implicitlinkage assuming where only one TB is transmitted in one transmissioninterval. If the interval between detected wireless device transmissionand a grant is fixed, a wireless device may determine which TB may beretransmitted. If the timing between a detected transmission and aretransmission grant is not preconfigured, an explicit indication of theretransmitted TB may be carried by a DCI. If a wireless device detectsthat a grant for one TB overlaps with transmission of another ongoingTB, the wireless device may assume precedence of the grant comparing tothe grant-free retransmissions. If a grant is received for a new TB(e.g., for aperiodic CSI reporting) and overlaps with the GF ULtransmissions, the GF transmissions may be dropped from the resources. Aprioritization rule whether to transmit a triggered report or GF datamay be introduced depending on priority of the associated services. IfURLLC services is assumed, the CSI reporting may be dropped.

A dedicated pre-assigned channel can be utilized for early termination.The physical HARQ indicator channel (PHICH) may be used as anacknowledge indicator. The PHICH for a wireless device may be determinedbased on the physical resource block (PRB) and cyclic shift of the DMRScorresponding to the wireless device's PUSCH transmissions. The earlytermination based on PHICH-like channel may improve the control channelcapacity and system capacity. If a base station has successfullyreceived a TB, the base station may obtain the corresponding informationabout the transmission of the TB, such as the wireless device ID, theresource used for carrying this transmission, the DMRS used for thistransmission. The physical resources may be shared among multiplewireless devices who may have their own unique identifiers (e.g., DMRS)used in the GF radio resource pool. Therefore, even for GF ULtransmission, if the base station has successfully received a TB, aunique PHICH may be determined.

A sequence-based signal may be used for early termination ofK-repetition. A sequence-based signal may be transmitted via one or morepre-assigned channels to inform the wireless device to terminate therepetition of transmission. The signal may be transmitted if a basestation successfully decodes a TB. The wireless device may perform asimple signal detection for the presence or absence to decide whether tocontinue the repetitions or not.

A base station may switch from GF to GB UL transmissions to improve a GFradio resource shortage. One or more wireless devices whose delayrequirements are not strict (e.g., comparing with URLLC requirements)may use the GF radio resource to transmit a data packet. A base stationmay measure a level of congestion of the GF UL radio resource shared bya plurality of wireless devices based on statistics and set up athreshold policy to dynamically balance load or resource utilization ofthe GF UL radio resource. The statistics may include, for example,resource utilization, load, and/or a number of wireless device sharingthe GF UL radio resource. Tt may be beneficial to switch some wirelessdevices from the GF UL radio resource to the GB UL radio resource, forexample, if the resource usage statistic of the GF UL radio resourceexceeds the predefined threshold, which may result in decreasing theresource collision.

A wireless device may receive one or more messages. The one or moremessages may comprise one or more RRC messages. The one or more messagesmay comprise configuration parameters for one or more cells. The one ormore messages may comprise uplink transmissions without grant (e.g., SPSand/or grant-free) configuration parameters. At least part of the uplinktransmissions without grant configuration parameters may be common amongthe SPS and grant-free. The uplink transmissions without grantconfiguration parameters may indicate an interval for uplinktransmissions without grant resources. The interval may indicate aperiod of time for uplink transmissions without grant and/or a period oftime for the uplink transmissions without grant and one or morerepetitions of the uplink transmissions without grant. The uplinktransmissions without grant configuration parameters may comprise powercontrol related parameters. The uplink transmissions without grantconfiguration parameters may comprise time/frequency resources, DMRS(e.g., wireless device-specific DMRS) configuration parameters, TBS/MCS,HARQ relate parameters, etc. The uplink transmissions without grantconfiguration parameters may comprise a first RNTI and an index. Thefirst RNTI may be used for transmission, by a base station, of a DCI(e.g., group common DCI) comprising a plurality of HARQ feedbackscorresponding to uplink transmissions without grant for a plurality ofwireless devices. The index may be used by the wireless device toidentify at least one HARQ feedback (e.g., ACK AND/OR NACK) in aplurality of HARQ feedbacks. The wireless device may transmit at leastone first TB corresponding to at least one HARQ process using at leastone uplink transmissions without grant resource (e.g., SPS resource orgrant free resource). The wireless device may identify the at least oneHARQ process using the radio resources (e.g., time and frequencyresources) for transmission of the at least one TB. The wireless devicemay monitor a common search space for a DCI corresponding to the firstRNTI. The common search space may be on a primary cell. The commonsearch space may be on a secondary cell. The common search space may beon the cell configured with uplink transmissions without grantresources. The wireless device may identify at least one HARQ feedback,in the plurality of HARQ feedbacks, corresponding to the at least onefirst TB at least based on the index. An example 1600 is shown in FIG.16 . The index may identify a plurality of HARQ feedbacks for a wirelessdevice, for example, if the wireless device has a plurality of pendingHARQ feedbacks and/or if the wireless device transmits a plurality ofTBs using uplink transmissions without grant resources. The wirelessdevice may transmit at least one second TB using the at least one HARQprocess based on the at least one HARQ feedback indicating ACK.

A wireless device may be configured with a first RNTI and an index. Thewireless device may receive one or more RRC messages configuring thefirst RNTI and the index. The wireless device may receive a DCI (e.g., agroup common DCI) corresponding to the first RNTI. The DCI may comprisea plurality of ACKs and/or NACKs for a plurality of wireless devicesconfigured with the same first RNTI. The wireless device may identify atleast one ACK AND/OR NACK in the plurality of ACKs and/or NACKscorresponding to at least one TB using at least the index. An example isshown in FIG. 15 . The example 1500 includes a base station transmittinga RRC message including GF UL transmission configuration parameters anda first RNTI index at step 1501. At step 1502, the wireless device maytransmit a GF UL transmission. At step 1503, the base station maytransmit the DCI. At step 1504, the wireless device may identify HARQfeedback in the DCI at least based on the index. At step 1505, thewireless device may transmit a GF UL transmission. The at least one TBmay be transmitted using radio resources for uplink transmissionswithout grant (e.g., SPS and/or grant free resources). The wirelessdevice may receive one or more a DCIs configuring the first RNTI and theindex. The wireless device may receive a DCI (e.g., a group common DCI)corresponding to the first RNTI. The DCI may comprise a plurality ofACKs and/or NACKs for a plurality of wireless devices configured withthe same first RNTI. The wireless device may identify, in the pluralityof ACKs and/or NACKs, at least one ACK AND/OR NACK corresponding to atleast one TB using at least the index. The at least one TB may betransmitted using radio resources for uplink transmissions without grant(e.g., SPS and/or grant free resources).

A wireless device may be configured with the first RNTI. The wirelessdevice may receive one or more RRC messages configuring the first RNTI.The wireless device may receive a DCI (e.g., a group common DCI)corresponding to the first RNTI. The DCI may comprise a plurality ofACKs and/or NACKs for a plurality of wireless devices configured withthe same first RNTI. The wireless device may identify at least one ACKAND/OR NACK, in the plurality of ACKs and/or NACKs, corresponding to atleast one TB using at least one or more physical layer parameterscorresponding to the at least one uplink transmission of the at leastone TB. An example is shown in FIG. 17 . The example 1700 includes abase station transmitting a RRC message including GF UL transmissionconfiguration parameters and a first RNTI index at step 1701. At step1702, the wireless device may transmit a GF UL transmission. At step1703, the base station transmits the DCI. At step 1704, the wirelessdevice may identify HARQ feedback in the DCI at least based on one ormore first parameters (e.g., physical layer (PHY) parameters) configuredvia RRC messages. At step 1705, the wireless device may transmit a GF ULtransmission. The one or more first parameters may comprise radioresources for the at least one uplink transmission (e.g., time/frequencyresources of the at least one uplink transmission, etc.) and/or a DMRS(e.g., DMRS sequence) used in the at least one uplink transmission andor wireless device specific ID. A wireless device may receive one ormore messages. The one or more messages may comprise one or more RRCmessages. The one or more messages may comprise configuration parametersfor one or more cells. The one or more messages may comprise uplinktransmissions without grant (e.g., SPS and/or grant-free) configurationparameters. At least part of the uplink transmissions without grantconfiguration parameters may be common among the SPS and grant-free. Theuplink transmissions without grant configuration parameters may indicatean interval for uplink transmissions without grant resources. Theinterval may indicate a period of time for uplink transmissions withoutgrant and/or a period of time for the uplink transmissions without grantand one or more repetitions of the uplink transmissions without grant.The uplink transmissions without grant configuration parameters maycomprise power control related parameters. The uplink transmissionswithout grant configuration parameters may comprise time/frequencyresources, DMRS (e.g., wireless device-specific DMRS) configurationparameters, TBS/MCS, HARQ relate parameters, etc. the uplinktransmissions without grant configuration parameters may comprise afirst RNTI. The first RNTI may be used for transmission, by a basestation, of a DCI (e.g., group common DCI) comprising a plurality ofHARQ feedbacks corresponding to uplink transmissions without grant for aplurality of wireless devices. The wireless device may transmit at leastone first TB corresponding to at least one HARQ process using at leastone uplink transmissions without grant resource, for example, a SPSresource or grant free resource. The wireless device may identify the atleast one HARQ process using the radio resources (e.g., time andfrequency resources) for transmission of the at least one TB. Thewireless device may monitor a common search space for a DCIcorresponding to the first RNTI. The common search space may be on aprimary cell. The common search space may be on a secondary cell. Thecommon search space may be on the cell configured with uplinktransmissions without grant resources. The wireless device may identify,in the plurality of HARQ feedbacks, at least one HARQ feedbackcorresponding to the at least one first TB at least based on the one ormore first parameters corresponding to the at least one uplinktransmission of the at least one TB. The one or more first parametersmay comprise radio resources for the at least one uplink transmission(e.g., time/frequency resources of the at least one uplink transmission,etc.) and/or a DMRS (e.g., DMRS sequence) used in the at least oneuplink transmission and/or a wireless device specific ID. The one ormore first parameters used for uplink transmissions without grant (e.g.,for one or more TBs of uplink transmissions without grant) may determinean order in the plurality of HARQ feedbacks that determines the at leastone HARQ feedback corresponding to the uplink transmissions withoutgrant.

The wireless device may monitor a common search space for a DCI at leastfor a portion of a period of time. The period of time may bepre-configured. The period of time may be a time duration fortransmission of uplink transmissions without grant and one or morerepetition of the uplink transmissions without grant. The period of timemay be the RRC configured time interval value for the uplinktransmissions without grant. The period of time may be configured byRRC. The period of time may be indicated in a DCI, e.g., the DCIactivating the uplink transmissions without grant. The wireless devicemay start a timer based on transmitting uplink transmissions withoutgrant. The timer value may be the period of time. The portion of theperiod of time may be the time until the DCI comprising HARQ feedback(e.g., the group common DCI) is received. The wireless device may stopthe timer based on receiving the DCI comprising the HARQ feedback (e.g.,the group common DCI). If the wireless device does not receive the DCIcomprising the HARQ feedback within the period of time, the wirelessdevice may assume an ACK. If the wireless device does not receive a DCIcomprising the HARQ feedback within the period of time, the wirelessdevice may assume a NACK.

A DCI (e.g., group common DCI) may comprise a plurality of HARQfeedbacks for a plurality of wireless devices. The DCI may comprise aplurality of HARQ feedbacks for a wireless device in the plurality ofwireless devices. The plurality of HARQ feedbacks for the wirelessdevice may correspond to a plurality of HARQ process IDs. The wirelessdevice may identify a HARQ process ID corresponding to a HARQ feedbackin the plurality of HARQ feedbacks. The wireless device may identify aHARQ process ID corresponding to a HARQ feedback in the plurality ofHARQ feedbacks based on a rule. The DCI may indicate the HARQ feedbacksand/or the HARQ process IDs associated with the HARQ feedbacks and/orthe number of HARQ feedbacks for a wireless device. The DCI may compriseone or more fields and the one or more fields may indicate the HARQfeedbacks and/or the HARQ process IDs associated with the HARQ feedbacksand/or the number of HARQ feedbacks for the wireless device. The one ormore fields in the DCI may be a bitmap field. The bitmap field mayindicate the number of HARQ feedbacks and/or the HARQ feedbacks for awireless device and/or the HARQ process IDs associated with the HARQfeedbacks for the wireless device. A first field in the one or morefields may identify a wireless device and/or one or more HARQ feedbacksof a wireless device (e.g., one or more HARQ feedback corresponding toone or more HARQ process). Another field in the DCI may indicate the oneor more HARQ feedbacks corresponding to the first field.

A wireless device may expect a first plurality of pending HARQ feedbacksfor a plurality of TBs. The plurality of TBs may correspond to aplurality of HARQ process IDs. A first plurality of TBs in the pluralityof TBs may correspond to a same HARQ process ID and/or same uplinktransmissions without grant. The wireless device may receive a secondplurality of HARQ feedbacks (ACK AND/OR NACKs) in a DCI comprising theHARQ feedbacks. The second plurality of HARQ feedbacks may be less thanthe first plurality of HARQ feedbacks. The wireless device may associatethe second plurality of HARQ feedbacks with one or more HARQ feedbacksin the first plurality of pending HARQ feedbacks. The wireless devicemay assume ACK for the other pending HARQ feedbacks. If a wirelessdevice receives one ACK AND/OR NACK in the DCI comprising the HARQfeedback and the wireless device expects a plurality of ACK AND/ORNACKs, the wireless device may assume the ACK AND/OR NACK indicated inthe DCI for a latest transmitted TB and may assume ACK for the otherTBs. The wireless device may assume the ACK AND/OR NACK indicated in theDCI for all pending HARQ feedbacks and/or TBs.

The DCI comprising the HARQ feedbacks for uplink transmissions withoutgrant may have one of a plurality of sizes. The DCI comprising the HARQfeedbacks for uplink transmissions without grant may be one of aplurality of a DCI formats. The base station may determine the one ofthe plurality of a DCI formats/sizes bases on one or more criteria. Theone or more criteria may comprise the number of the plurality of HARQfeedbacks included in the DCI. Other rules/criteria may be used by thebase station to determine the DCI format/size. The plurality of a DCIformats/sizes may be pre-configured for the wireless device. The DCIformats/sizes may be configured for the wireless device. The wirelessdevice may receive one or more messages indicating the plurality offormats/sizes. The wireless device may monitor the DCI for the pluralityof a DCI formats/sizes.

A base station may transmit a wireless device-specific DCI to a wirelessdevice. The wireless device-specific DCI may comprise HARQ feedbackcorresponding to the GF UL transmission of the wireless device. Thewireless device-specific DCI may result in a signaling overhead due to abase station coordinating a schedule of a plurality of HARQ feedbacktransmissions for a plurality of wireless devices configured with GF ULtransmission. Coordinating a plurality of HARQ feedback transmissionsmay result in increasing complexity of signal processing at the basestation side and/or a delay to schedule a HARQ feedback for the wirelessdevice.

A base station may use an index-based group-common DCI to indicate oneor more HARQ feedbacks for one or more wireless devices configured withGF UL transmission. An index-based group-common DCI (e.g., DCI 3/3A) maybe used for the GF UL transmission in a wireless network. The uplinktransmissions without grant configuration parameters may comprise afirst RNTI and an index. The first RNTI may be used, by a base station,for a transmission of the index-based group common DCI. The index-basedgroup common DCI may comprise one or more HARQ feedbacks correspondingto uplink transmissions without grant for one or more wireless devices.The index may be used by a wireless device to identify at least one HARQfeedback (e.g., ACK AND/OR NACK) from a plurality of HARQ feedbacks inthe DCI. The index-based group-common DCI may comprise a series of oneor more HARQ feedbacks as described with respect to FIG. 16 and, basedon the index, the wireless device may identify a position of HARQfeedback for the wireless device from the one or more HARQ feedbacks inthe index-based group-common DCI.

The size of the index-based group-common DCI may be fixed and/orsemi-statically updated to reduce processing complexity for a DCIdecoding at the wireless device side. A base station may configure afirst wireless device with a same RNTI configured with one or morewireless devices The first wireless device may be configured with anindex different from any of indices configured with the one or morewireless devices. If the first wireless device does not transmit atleast one TB via GF radio resource, the base station may not drop afirst field for the first wireless device from the index-basedgroup-common DCI to keep the size of the index-based group-common DCIand/or to avoid additional signaling to update the size of theindex-based group-common DCI and/or to avoid additional signaling toupdate indices for at least one of the one or more wireless devices. Thefirst field carried by the index-based group-common DCI may be used tokeep a particular size. A value (e.g., ACK or NACK) in the first fieldmay not be used by the first wireless device and/or the one or morewireless devices. For example, if a wireless device does not transmit aTB via GF radio resources, the wireless device may not use the firstfiled identified from an index-based group common DCI based on a sizeand an index configured to the wireless device.

A base station may configure one or more wireless device with a sameRNTI for an index-based group common DCI used for one or more GF ULtransmission. each of the one or more wireless device may be configuredwith a different index that may indicate a position of HARQ feedback inthe index-based group common DCI. The size of the index-based groupcommon DCI may be predefined to avoid blind decoding at the one or morewireless device. As a number of wireless devices (configured with a sameRNTI with different indices) does not transmit a TB via GF radioresources increases, a number of fields (used for keeping a size of theindex-based group-common DCI) not used by any wireless device mayincrease. Identifying a HARQ feedback from the index-based group-commonDCI based on the index may result in inefficient use of downlink radioresources. For example, with the index-based group-common DCI, for oneor more wireless devices within the same group of the index-based groupcommon DCI, the probability that more than one wireless device transmitssimultaneously may be small. For example, if a wireless device uses GFradio resources for transmission of sporadic traffic (e.g., URLLC), thewireless device may skip one or more GF radio resources (if no datatransmits), which may imply that the resource saving from theindex-based group-common DCI may be small. If there are N wirelessdevices supported in the system wherein each wireless device may have MHARQ processes, the index-based group-common DCI may need N*M bits. Forexample, if there is a high number of wireless devices supported in thesystem with sporadic traffic, most of the HARQ feedback fields may notbe utilized, for example, due to wireless devices' inactivity, which maylead to inefficient resource utilization.

A group-common DCI may comprise one or more wireless device identifiers.A base station may configure a wireless device with a first identifierof the wireless device. The first identifier may be the one assigned forwireless device identification from the group-common DCI. The firstidentifier may be an index or a parameter used for the base station todetect a wireless device ID from one or more shared GF UL radioresources. One or more parameters used for a wireless device specificDMRS along with a GF radio resource pool configuration used to identifya wireless device identity may be used for the first identifier, forexample, a root index of a set of Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequences, a cyclicshift (CS) index, a TDM/FDM pattern index, an orthogonal cover code(OCC) sequences or index, or a combination thereof, may be used as thefirst identifier.

A group-common DCI may comprise one or more HARQ feedback fields,wherein each of the one or more HARQ feedback fields may comprise awireless device identifier as illustrated in FIG. 18A. A group-commonDCI may comprise one or more HARQ feedback fields, wherein each of theone or more HARQ feedback fields may comprise a wireless deviceidentifier and its associated HARQ process number (HPN) as illustratedin FIG. 18B. If a wireless network allows more than one HARQ process fora GF UL transmission, a bitmap for the HARQ processes of a wirelessdevice may be used as illustrated in FIG. 18C. A group-common DCI maycomprise at least one HARQ feedback field wherein the at least one HARQfeedback field may comprise a wireless device identifier and HARQprocess number (and/or HARQ processes bitmap.

A group-common DCI comprising one or more wireless device identifiersfor HARQ feedbacks may enhance a resource utilization. A HARQ feedbackfield may comprise a wireless device identifier and its associated HARQprocess number (HPN). With this method, (log₂N+log₂M)K bits may berequired to transmit HARQ feedbacks to K wireless devices, wherein eachwireless device may have M HARQ processes. For example, a bitmap for theHARQ processes may be used instead of the HPN. The number of bitsutilized to transmit HARQ feedbacks to K wireless devices (each wirelessdevice may have M HARQ processes) may be (log₂N+M)K if the bitmap forthe HARQ processes is used.

A size of the group-common DCI may be fixed to reduce processing at awireless device side. A wireless device may search the group-common DCIfrom a common search space in a PDCCH with a plurality of possible sizes(e.g., brute force searching) if a size of a group-common DCI is notknown to the wireless device. The size predetermined and/or provided tothe wireless device before detecting the group-common DCI may alleviateprocessing overhead for detecting and/or decoding the group-common DCIat the wireless device side. The size of the group-common DCI may bepredetermined and/or provided to a wireless device before the wirelessdevice receives the group-common DCI. The size of the group-common DCImay be pre-determined by the wireless network. The size of thegroup-common DCI may be provided to a wireless device via RRC signalingbefore the wireless device starts to monitor a PDCCH for thegroup-common DCI. The size of the group-common DCI may be configuredand/or updated via L1 signaling (e.g., via a DCI) before the wirelessdevice starts to monitor a PDCCH for the group-common DCI.

A size of group-common DCI may depend on at least statistics of a numberof wireless devices transmitting at least one TB during one or more TTIsamong wireless devices configured with a same RNTI for GF ULtransmission, wherein a unit of TTI may be subframe, slot, and/ormini-slot. The presence of a first identifier of a first wireless devicein the group-common DCI may indicate ACK or NACK. An absence of a firstidentifier of a first wireless device in the group-common DCI mayindicate ACK or NACK. A wireless network may pre-define whether apresence of a first identifier of a first wireless device in thegroup-common DCI indicate ACK or NACK. A wireless network may pre-definewhether an absence of a first identifier of a first wireless device inthe group-common DCI imply ACK or NACK. The group-common DCI comprisingone or more wireless device identifiers may not comprise a firstidentifier of a first wireless device if the first wireless device doesnot transmit a TB via a GF radio resource. The group-common DCIcomprising one or more wireless device identifiers may not comprise afirst identifier of a first wireless device if the first wireless devicetransmits one or more TBs via GF radio resource to a base station butthe base station fails to decode the one or more TBs. The group-commonDCI may comprise a first identifier of a first wireless device if thefirst wireless device does not transmit a TB via a GF radio resource.The group-common DCI may comprise a first identifier of a first wirelessdevice if the first wireless device transmits one or more TBs via the GFradio resource to base station but the base station fails to decode theone or more TBs.

A size of a group-common DCI may not be enough to carry HARQ feedbacksof one or more wireless devices having a same RNTI (e.g., RNTI may beused to scramble the group-common DCI at a base station, and be used todetect the group-common DCI from a searching space in a PDCCH at awireless device side) assigned for GF UL transmission, wherein thegroup-common DCI may comprise one or more wireless device identifiers. Abase station may transmit one or more group-common DCIs scrambled by thesame RNTI. A base station may transmit at least one group-common DCIcarrying the one or more HARQ feedback fields as illustrated in FIG. 19Aif the size of the group-common DCI is enough to carry one or more HARQfeedbacks. The HARQ feedback fields may comprise a wireless deviceidentifier, a HARQ processing number, and/or a bitmap, wherein a valueof the bitmap may be associated with a HARQ processing number. The basestation may append one or more padding bits (e.g., zero padding) to thegroup-common DCI such that the size of the group-common DCI keeps thesame to a predetermined or semi-statically configured size of thegroup-common DCI as illustrated in FIG. 19B if the group-common DCI hasan enough space to carry one or more HARQ feedback fields and there is aremaining space in the group-common DCI. A group-common DCI may compriseone or more HARQ feedback fields and one or more padding bits, whereineach of one or more HARQ feedback fields may comprise at least one offollowing: a wireless device identifier, a HARQ processing number, or abitmap associated with a HARQ processing number. A base station maytransmit one or more group-common DCIs scrambled by the same RNTI if asize of the group-common DCI is not enough to carry one or more HARQfeedbacks, wherein the one or more group-common DCIs may comprise one ormore wireless device identifiers, and a union of the one or morewireless device identifiers may correspond to one or more wirelessdevices that transmit at least one TB via GF radio resources and waitfor at least one HARQ feedback.

FIG. 20 shows an example 2000 of two group-common DCIs transmitted bybase station. A base station may have one or more first HARQ feedbacksof one or more first wireless devices and one or more second HARQfeedbacks of one or more second wireless devices. If a predetermined orsemi-statically configured size of a group common DCI is not enoughcarry the one or more first HARQ feedbacks and the one or more secondHARQ feedbacks, the base station may transmit two group-common DCIsscrambled with a same RNTI, a first group common DCI comprising the oneor more first HARQ feedbacks, and/or a second group common DCIcomprising the one or more second HARQ feedbacks. For example, the firstgroup common DCI may comprise one or more first identifiers of the oneor more first wireless devices with the one or more first HARQfeedbacks, and the second group-common DCI may comprise one or moresecond identifiers of the one or more second wireless device identifierswith one or more padding bits.

A wireless device that transmits at least one TB via at least one GFradio resource and that waits for at least one HARQ feedbackcorresponding to a transmission of the at least one TB may receive oneor more group-common DCI scrambled by the same RNTI, wherein thewireless device may be configured with the same RNTI via at least oneRRC message. As illustrated in FIG. 21A, the wireless device may stopmonitoring a PDCCH for a group-common DCI scrambled by the same RNTI ifthe wireless device detects the group-common DCI comprising at least awireless device identifier associated with the wireless device. Thepresence of the wireless device identifier may indicate ACK. Thepresence of the wireless device identifier may indicate NACK. Asillustrated in FIG. 21B, the wireless device may keep monitoring a PDCCHfor a group-common DCI scrambled by the same RNTI if the group-commonDCI that the wireless device detects do not comprise a wireless deviceidentifier associated with the wireless device.

A wireless device may be configured with a timer (or timewindow/duration) value for monitoring a PDCCH for one or moregroup-common DCI. A unit of the timer value may be subframe, slot,and/or mini-slot. There may be one or more ways to start the timer. Thetimer may start based on transmitting an initial transmission. The timermay start based on transmitting an initial transmission with a timeoffset, wherein the time offset may be predetermined. The timer maystart based on transmitting a last retransmission of K repetition. Thetimer may start based on transmitting a last retransmission of Krepetition with the time offset. A wireless device may stop monitoringthe PDCCH for one or more group-common DCIs if the timer is running ifthe wireless device detects at least one group-common DCI comprising awireless device identifier associated with the wireless device. Awireless device may stop monitoring the PDCCH for one or moregroup-common DCIs based on an expiry of the timer if no group-common DCIis received prior to an expiry of the timer as shown in FIG. 22A. Awireless device may stop monitoring the PDCCH for one or moregroup-common DCIs based on an expiry of the timer if none ofgroup-common DCIs detected prior to an expiry of the timer comprises awireless device identifier associated with the wireless device as shownin FIG. 22B. A wireless device may stop monitoring the PDCCH for one ormore group-common DCIs based on an expiry of the timer if the wirelessdevice does not receive at least one HARQ feedback (in at least onegroup-common DCI) corresponding to a transmission of at least one TB andthe timer expires, the wireless device may retransmit the at least oneTB via one or more GF radio resources. The wireless device may transmit,via at least one radio resource, the RV of the at least one TB, forexample, if the wireless device receives, prior to an expiry of thetimer, an UL grant for a transmission of a redundancy version (RV) ofthe at least one TB. The UL grant may comprise at least one fieldindicating the at least one radio resource for the transmission, and theRV is pre-configured. The wireless device may repeat the previoustransmission of the at least one TB if neither an ACK nor a NACK isreceived if the timer expires.

A wireless device may be configured with a TTI counter value (e.g. k maybe a TTI counter value) for monitoring a PDCCH for one or moregroup-common DCIs, wherein a unit of the TTI counter value may besubframe, slot, and/or mini-slot. There may be one or more ways to startTTI counting. The wireless device may start to count one or more TTIsbased on transmitting an initial transmission. The wireless device maystart to count one or more TTIs based on transmitting an initialtransmission with a time offset, wherein the time offset may bepredetermined. The wireless device may start to count one or more TTIsbased on transmitting a last retransmission of K repetitions. Thewireless device may start to count one or more TTIs based ontransmitting a last retransmission of K repetitions with the timeoffset. The wireless device may stop monitoring the PDCCH for one ormore group-common DCI if the counted one or more TTIs is equal to (orgreater than) the TTI counter. The wireless device may start to monitorthe PDCCH from the n^(th) TTI and may stop the PDCCH monitoring at(n+k)^(th) TTI if the wireless device starts to count one or more TTIsat the n^(th) TTI. A wireless device may stop monitoring the PDCCH forone or more group-common DCIs if the wireless device detects at leastone group-common DCI comprising a wireless device identifier associatedwith the wireless device if the counted one or more TTIs is less thanthe TTI counter. A wireless device may stop monitoring the PDCCH for oneor more group-common DCIs based on the counted one or more TTIs reachingthe TTI counter if no group-common DCI is received prior to the countedone or more TTIs reaching the TTI counter as shown in FIG. 23A. Awireless device may stop monitoring the PDCCH for one or moregroup-common DCIs based on the counted one or more TTIs reaching the TTIcounter if no group-common DCI is received prior to the counted one ormore TTIs reaching the TTI counter if none of group-common DCIs detectedprior to the counted one or more TTIs reaching the TTI counter comprisesa wireless device identifier associated with the wireless device asshown in FIG. 23B. The wireless device may retransmit the at least oneTB via one or more GF radio resources, for example, if the wirelessdevice does not receive at least one HARQ feedback (in at least onegroup-common DCI) corresponding to a transmission of at least one TB andthe counted one or more TTIs reaching (exceeding/being equal to) the TTIcounter. If the wireless device receives, prior to the counted one ormore TTIs reaching (exceeding/being equal to) the TTI counter, an ULgrant for a transmission of a redundancy version (RV) of the at leastone TB, the wireless device may transmit, via at least one radioresource, the RV of the at least one TB. The UL grant may comprise atleast one field indicating the at least one radio resource for thetransmission, and the RV is pre-configured. The wireless device mayrepeat the previous transmission of the at least one TB if neither ACKnor NACK is received if the counted one or more TTIs reaching(exceeding/being equal to) the TTI counter.

A wireless device that transmits at least one TB via at least one GFradio resource may receive, from base station, one or more group-commonDCI scrambled RNTI configured with the wireless device for GF ULtransmission. The wireless device may determine an implicit NACKcorresponding to a transmission of the at least one TB if the one ormore group-common DCIs do not comprise an identifier associated with thewireless device. The wireless device may determine an implicit ACKcorresponding to a transmission of the at least one TB if the one ormore group-common DCIs do not comprise an identifier associated with thewireless device. The wireless device may not retransmit the at least oneTB via one or more GF radio resources if the one or more group-commonDCIs do not comprise an identifier associated with the wireless device.The wireless device may not retransmit the at least one TB via one ormore GF radio resources if a latency requirement associated with the atleast one TB is tight (e.g., if a time budget required forretransmission does not fulfill the latency requirement). If thewireless device does not receive at least one HARQ feedback (in at leastone group-common DCI) corresponding to a transmission of at least one TBand the timer expires, the wireless device may retransmit the at leastone TB via one or more GF radio resources as illustrated in FIG. 24A.The wireless device may retransmit the at least one TB via one or moreGF radio resources as illustrated in FIG. 24B, for example, if thewireless device does not receive at least one HARQ feedback (in at leastone group-common DCI) corresponding to a transmission of at least one TBand the counted one or more TTIs reaching (exceeding/being equal to) theTTI counter.

FIG. 25 shows an example of a wireless device that may receive, from abase station, at least one RRC message comprising grant-freeconfiguration parameters for indicating at least one of following: oneor more grant-free radio resources configured for a grant-free uplinktransmission; at least one information element (IE) indicating at leastone group-common downlink control information (a DCI) size and/orformat; a first identifier of the wireless device; or an RNTI. Thewireless device may receive a first DCI comprising a field indicatingone of the at least one IE. For example, a wireless device may beinformed from a base station of an updated size of a group-common DCI.The wireless device may transmit, via the one or more grant-free radioresources, at least one transport block (TB). The wireless device maymonitor a PDCCH for a group-common DCI at least based on a sizeassociated with the one of the at least one IE. The wireless device maydetermine, depending on a presence or an absence of the first identifierin the group-common DCI, whether to keep or stop monitoring the PDCCH.The group-common DCI may be scrambled by the RNTI. The at least one RRCmessage further may comprise a timer value. The wireless device maystart a timer with the timer value based on the transmission of the atleast one TB. The wireless device may determine ACK or NACK based on thetimer and the timer value. There are one or more ways to determine ACKor NACK. For example, the wireless device may determine ACK of thetransmission of the at least one TB if no group-common DCI is receivedprior to an expiry of the timer or if none of the group-common DCIdetected prior to an expiry of the timer comprises the first identifier.For example, the wireless device may determine NACK of the transmissionof the at least one TB if no group-common DCI is received prior to anexpiry of the timer or if none of the group-common DCI detected prior toan expiry of the timer comprises the first identifier. Whether todetermine ACK or NACK based on an absence of the first identifier may bepredefined. The wireless device may receive, prior to an expiry of thetimer, an UL grant for a transmission of a redundancy version (RV) ofthe at least one TB, wherein the UL grant may comprise at least onefield indicating at least one second radio resource for thetransmission, and the RV may be pre-configured (and/or pre-defined). Thewireless device may transmit, via the at least one second radioresource, the RV of the at least one TB.

A base station may determine a size of a group common DCI based on thestatistics of one or more TBs received via one or more GF radioresources from one or more wireless devices. The statistics used todetermine the one or more group common DCIs may be, e.g., a number ofone or more TBs received via one or more GF radio resources within agiven time duration, a number of one or more wireless devicestransmitted at least one TB via the one or more GF radio resourceswithin a given time duration, a number of initial transmissions via oneor more GF radio resources within a given time duration, a number ofretransmissions via one or more GF radio resources within a given timeduration, a sum of initial transmissions and retransmissions via one ormore GF radio resources, and/or a combination thereof. For example, thebase station may assign one or more GF radio resources to one or morewireless devices. The base station may transmit one or more group commonDCIs in response to receiving one or more TB transmissions. The basestation may update a size of the one or more group common DCIs based onthe statistics. The updated size may be provided to one or more wirelessdevices via control channel singling (e.g., RRC message and/or DCI). Thecontrol signaling may be wireless device specific. The control signalingmay be non-wireless device specific.

A base station may allocate one or more GF radio resources to one ormore wireless devices. Each of the one or more wireless device may ormay not have a data to transmit via the one or more GF radio resources.For example, URLLC-type data (which may be sporadic) may not arrive ateach of the one or more GF radio resources. If there is no data transmitvia the one or more GF radio resources, a wireless device may skip totransmit via the one or more GF radio resource. The base station maymeasure the statistics of one or more TB transmitted from one or morewireless devices via the one or more GF radio resources. For example, ifa size of group common DCI is small comparing with the statistics, thebase station may increase the size and inform the one or more wirelessdevices of the updated size. For example, if a size of group common DCIis large comparing with the statistics, the base station may decreasethe size and inform the one or more wireless devices of the updatedsize. The one or more wireless device may monitor a downlink controlchannel to detect one or more group common DCI based on the updatedsize.

A wireless device may receive, from a base station, at least one RRCmessage comprising grant-free configuration parameters for indicating atleast one of following: one or more grant-free radio resourcesconfigured for a grant-free uplink transmission; an information elementindicating at least one group-common downlink control information sizeand/or format; a first identifier of the wireless device; or an RNTI.The wireless device may transmit, via the one or more grant-free radioresources, at least one transport block. The wireless device may monitora PDCCH for a group-common DCI at least based on a size associated withthe IE. The wireless device may determine, depending on a presence or anabsence of the first identifier in the group-common DCI, whether to keepor stop monitoring the PDCCH. The wireless device may activate thegrant-free UL transmission based on receiving the at least one RRCmessage. The group-common DCI may be scrambled by the RNTI. The at leastone RRC message may further comprise a timer. The wireless device maydetermine a retransmission of the at least one TB if no group-common DCIis received prior to an expiry of the timer or if none of group-commonDCIs detected prior to an expiry of the timer comprises the firstidentifier. The wireless device may receive, prior to an expiry of thetimer, an UL grant for a transmission of a redundancy version (RV) ofthe at least one TB, wherein the UL grant may comprise at least onefield indicating at least one second radio resource for thetransmission, and the RV may be pre-configured (and/or pre-defined). Thewireless device may transmit, via the at least one second radioresource, the RV of the at least one TB.

A wireless device may receive, from a base station, at least one RRCmessage comprising grant-free configuration parameters for indicating atleast one of following: one or more grant-free radio resourcesconfigured for a grant-free uplink transmission, a first identifier ofthe wireless device, and an RNTI. The wireless device may transmit, viathe one or more grant-free radio resources, at least one transportblock. The wireless device may monitor a PDCCH for a group-common DCI atleast based on a size and/or format of a group-common downlink controlinformation, wherein the size and/or format of a group-common downlinkcontrol information is pre-defined. The wireless device may determine,depending on a presence or an absence of the first identifier in thegroup-common DCI, whether to keep or stop monitoring the PDCCH. Thewireless device may activate the grant-free UL transmission based onreceiving the at least one RRC message. The group-common DCI isscrambled by the RNTI. The at least one RRC message further comprises atimer. The wireless device may determine a retransmission of the atleast one TB if no group-common DCI is received prior to an expiry ofthe timer or if none of group-common DCIs detected prior to an expiry ofthe timer comprises the first identifier. The wireless device mayreceive, prior to an expiry of the timer, an UL grant for a transmissionof a redundancy version (RV) of the at least one TB, wherein the ULgrant may comprise at least one field indicating at least one secondradio resource for the transmission, and the RV may be pre-configured(and/or pre-defined). The wireless device may transmit, via the at leastone second radio resource, the RV of the at least one TB.

FIG. 26 is an example HARQ feedback procedure for a downlink channel.Example 2600 includes a base station receiving (2610) one or moretransport blocks from one or more wireless devices via one or more radioresources of one or more configured uplink grants. If a sufficientnumber of blocks to determine the size of the DCI are received (2612),the size of the downlink control information based on statistics of theone or more transport blocks (e.g., a number of transport blocks) can bedetermined (2614). If sufficient blocks are not received (2612),additional blocks can be received (2610). If the determined size of theDCI is different from a current size of the DCI (2616), a controlmessage indicating the determined size can be transmitted (2618) to oneor more wireless device via a control channel.

FIG. 27 is an example HARQ feedback procedure for a downlink channel.Example 2700 includes a wireless device receiving (2710) one or moremessages indicating the size of a DCI. If transport blocks are scheduled(2712) via a configured UL grant, one or more transport blocks can betransmitted (2714). If a control message is received (2716) beforetransmitting the transport blocks, the size of the DCI can be updated(2718). The wireless device can monitor (2720) a control channel for theDCI having the particular size.

FIG. 28 shows general hardware elements that may be used to implementany of the various computing devices discussed herein, including, e.g.,the base station 401, the wireless device 406, or any other basestation, wireless device, or computing device described herein. Thecomputing device 2800 may include one or more processors 2801, which mayexecute instructions stored in the random access memory (RAM) 2803, theremovable media 2804 (such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive,compact disk (CD) or digital versatile disk (DVD), or floppy diskdrive), or any other desired storage medium. Instructions may also bestored in an attached (or internal) hard drive 2805. The computingdevice 2800 may also include a security processor (not shown), which mayexecute instructions of one or more computer programs to monitor theprocesses executing on the processor 2801 and any process that requestsaccess to any hardware and/or software components of the computingdevice 2800 (e.g., ROM 2802, RAM 2803, the removable media 2804, thehard drive 2805, the device controller 2807, a network interface 2809, aGPS 2811, a Bluetooth interface 2812, a WiFi interface 2813, etc.). Thecomputing device 2800 may include one or more output devices, such asthe display 2806 (e.g., a screen, a display device, a monitor, atelevision, etc.), and may include one or more output device controllers2807, such as a video processor. There may also be one or more userinput devices 2808, such as a remote control, keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, microphone, etc. The computing device 2800 may also include oneor more network interfaces, such as a network interface 2809, which maybe a wired interface, a wireless interface, or a combination of the two.The network interface 2809 may provide an interface for the computingdevice 2800 to communicate with a network 2810 (e.g., a RAN, or anyother network). The network interface 2809 may include a modem (e.g., acable modem), and the external network 2810 may include communicationlinks, an external network, an in-home network, a provider's wireless,coaxial, fiber, or hybrid fiber/coaxial distribution system (e.g., aDOCSIS network), or any other desired network. Additionally, thecomputing device 2800 may include a location-detecting device, such as aglobal positioning system (GPS) microprocessor 2811, which may beconfigured to receive and process global positioning signals anddetermine, with possible assistance from an external server and antenna,a geographic position of the computing device 2800.

The example in FIG. 28 is a hardware configuration, although thecomponents shown may be implemented as software as well. Modificationsmay be made to add, remove, combine, divide, etc. components of thecomputing device 2800 as desired. Additionally, the components may beimplemented using basic computing devices and components, and the samecomponents (e.g., processor 2801, ROM storage 2802, display 2806, etc.)may be used to implement any of the other computing devices andcomponents described herein. For example, the various componentsdescribed herein may be implemented using computing devices havingcomponents such as a processor executing computer-executableinstructions stored on a computer-readable medium, as shown in FIG. 28 .Some or all of the entities described herein may be software based, andmay co-exist in a common physical platform (e.g., a requesting entitymay be a separate software process and program from a dependent entity,both of which may be executed as software on a common computing device).

One or more features of the disclosure may be implemented in acomputer-usable data and/or computer-executable instructions, such as inone or more program modules, executed by one or more computers or otherdevices. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types when executed by a processor ina computer or other data processing device. The computer executableinstructions may be stored on one or more computer readable media suchas a hard disk, optical disk, removable storage media, solid statememory, RAM, etc. The functionality of the program modules may becombined or distributed as desired. The functionality may be implementedin whole or in part in firmware or hardware equivalents such asintegrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and thelike. Particular data structures may be used to more effectivelyimplement one or more features of the disclosure, and such datastructures are contemplated within the scope of computer executableinstructions and computer-usable data described herein.

Many of the elements in examples may be implemented as modules. A modulemay be an isolatable element that performs a defined function and has adefined interface to other elements. The modules may be implemented inhardware, software in combination with hardware, firmware, wetware(i.e., hardware with a biological element) or a combination thereof, allof which may be behaviorally equivalent. For example, modules may beimplemented as a software routine written in a computer languageconfigured to be executed by a hardware machine (such as C, C++,Fortran, Java, Basic, Matlab or the like) or a modeling/simulationprogram such as Simulink, Stateflow, GNU Octave, or LabVIEWMathScript.Additionally or alternatively, it may be possible to implement modulesusing physical hardware that incorporates discrete or programmableanalog, digital and/or quantum hardware. Examples of programmablehardware may comprise: computers, microcontrollers, microprocessors,application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs); and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs).Computers, microcontrollers, and microprocessors may be programmed usinglanguages such as assembly, C, C++ or the like. FPGAs, ASICs, and CPLDsmay be programmed using hardware description languages (HDL), such asVHSIC hardware description language (VHDL) or Verilog, which mayconfigure connections between internal hardware modules with lesserfunctionality on a programmable device. The above mentioned technologiesmay be used in combination to achieve the result of a functional module.

A non-transitory tangible computer readable media may compriseinstructions executable by one or more processors configured to causeoperations of multi-carrier communications described herein. An articleof manufacture may comprise a non-transitory tangible computer readablemachine-accessible medium having instructions encoded thereon forenabling programmable hardware to cause a device (e.g., a wirelessdevice, wireless communicator, a UE, a base station, and the like) toenable operation of multi-carrier communications described herein. Thedevice, or one or more devices such as in a system, may include one ormore processors, memory, interfaces, and/or the like. Other examples maycomprise communication networks comprising devices such as basestations, wireless devices or user equipment (UE), servers, switches,antennas, and/or the like. A network may comprise any wirelesstechnology, including but not limited to, cellular, wireless, WiFi, 4G,5G, any generation of 3GPP or other cellular standard or recommendation,wireless local area networks, wireless personal area networks, wirelessad hoc networks, wireless metropolitan area networks, wireless wide areanetworks, global area networks, space networks, and any other networkusing wireless communications. Any device (e.g., a wireless device, abase station, or any other device) or combination of devices may be usedto perform any combination of one or more of steps described herein,including, e.g., any complementary step or steps of one or more of theabove steps.

Although examples are described above, features and/or steps of thoseexamples may be combined, divided, omitted, rearranged, revised, and/oraugmented in any desired manner. Various alterations, modifications, andimprovements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Suchalterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part ofthis description, though not expressly stated herein, and are intendedto be within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, theforegoing description is by way of example only, and is not limiting.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a base stationfrom one or more wireless devices via first radio resources indicated byone or more first configured uplink grants, one or more first transportblocks; determining, based on a quantity of the one or more firsttransport blocks, a size of downlink control information (DCI);transmitting, to a wireless device of the one or more wireless devices,a control message comprising an indication of the determined size of theDCI; receiving, from the wireless device via one or more second radioresources indicated by a second configured uplink grant, one or moresecond transport blocks; and transmitting, to the wireless device, DCIhaving the determined size, wherein the DCI comprises at least one fieldindicating an acknowledgement associated with the one or more secondtransport blocks.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the control messagecomprises one or more radio resource control messages indicating anidentifier of the DCI.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprisingdetermining, based on an index of the wireless device, a position of theat least one field indicating the acknowledgement, wherein the one ormore radio resource control messages comprise the index.
 4. The methodof claim 2, wherein the one or more radio resource control messagescomprise: a periodicity of the second configured uplink grant; and anoffset of a resource of the one or more second radio resources, whereinthe offset is with respect to a first system frame number.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein the at least one field indicating theacknowledgement comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)process number associated with the one or more second transport blocks.6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating, based on thedetermined size of the DCI being insufficient to indicate anacknowledgement of a portion of the one or more second transport blocks,second DCI comprising at least one field indicating an acknowledgementassociated with the portion of the one or more second transport blocks;and transmitting, by the base station to the wireless device, the secondDCI.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: based on thereceiving the one or more second transport blocks, starting a timer,wherein transmitting the DCI occurs before an expiration of the timer.8. A method comprising: receiving, by a base station from a plurality ofwireless devices via first radio resources indicated by one or morefirst configured uplink grants, one or more first transport blocks;determining, based on a quantity of the one or more first transportblocks, a size of group common downlink control information (DCI);transmitting, to the plurality of wireless devices, a control messagecomprising an indication of the determined size of the group common DCI;receiving, from the plurality of wireless devices via one or more secondradio resources indicated by a second configured uplink grant, one ormore second transport blocks; and transmitting, to the plurality ofwireless devices, group common DCI having the determined size, whereinthe group common DCI comprises at least one field indicating hybridautomatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback associated with the one or moresecond transport blocks.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the controlmessage comprises one or more radio resource control messages comprisingan identifier of the group common DCI.
 10. The method of claim 9,further comprising determining, based on an index of a wireless deviceof the plurality of wireless devices, a position of the at least onefield indicating HARQ feedback in the group common DCI.
 11. The methodof claim 10, wherein the one or more radio resource control messagescomprise the index.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or moreradio resource control messages comprise: a periodicity of the secondconfigured uplink grant; and an offset, with respect to a first systemframe number, of a resource of the one or more second radio resources.13. The method of claim 8, further comprising: generating, based on thedetermined size of the group common DCI being insufficient to indicatethe HARQ feedback of a portion of the one or more second transportblocks, second group common DCI comprising at least one field indicatingHARQ feedback associated with the portion of the one or more secondtransport blocks; and transmitting, to a wireless device of theplurality of wireless devices, the second group common DCI.
 14. Themethod of claim 8, further comprising: based on receiving the one ormore second transport blocks, starting a timer, wherein transmitting thegroup common DCI occurs before an expiration of the timer.
 15. A methodcomprising: transmitting, by a wireless device to a base station viafirst radio resources indicated by one or more first configured uplinkgrants, one or more first transport blocks; receiving, from the basestation, a control message comprising an indication of a size ofdownlink control information (DCI); transmitting, to the base stationvia one or more second radio resources indicated by a second configureduplink grant, one or more second transport blocks; and receiving, fromthe base station, DCI having the size indicated by the control message,wherein the DCI comprises: an identifier indicating the wireless device;and a field indicating an acknowledgement associated with the one ormore second transport blocks.
 16. The method of claim 15, wherein thecontrol message comprises one or more radio resource control messagesindicating an identifier of the DCI.
 17. The method of claim 16, whereinthe one or more radio resource control messages comprise at least oneof: a periodicity of the second configured uplink grant; or an offset ofa resource of the one or more second radio resources, wherein the offsetis with respect to a first system frame number.
 18. The method of claim15, further comprising: monitoring a control channel for the DCI havingthe size indicated by the control message.
 19. The method of claim 15,further comprising: starting, based on the transmitting of the one ormore second transport blocks, a timer.
 20. The method of claim 15,wherein the field indicating the acknowledgement further indicates ahybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number.
 21. A methodcomprising: transmitting, by a wireless device to a base station viafirst radio resources indicated by one or more first configured uplinkgrants, one or more first transport blocks; receiving, from the basestation, a control message comprising an indication of a size of groupcommon downlink control information (DCI); transmitting, to the basestation via one or more second radio resources indicated by a secondconfigured uplink grant, one or more second transport blocks; andreceiving, from the base station, group common DCI having the sizeindicated by the control message, wherein the group common DCIcomprises: an identifier indicating the wireless device; and a fieldindicating hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback.
 22. Themethod of claim 21, further comprising: receiving one or more radioresource control messages comprising an identifier of the group commonDCI.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the one or more radio resourcecontrol messages further comprise at least one of: an index of thewireless device; a periodicity of the second configured uplink grant; oran offset, with respect to a first system frame number, of a resource ofthe one or more second radio resources.
 24. The method of claim 21,further comprising: monitoring a control channel for the group commonDCI having the size indicated by the control message.
 25. The method ofclaim 21, further comprising: starting, based on the transmitting of theone or more second transport blocks, a timer.
 26. The method of claim21, wherein the field indicating the HARQ feedback comprises a HARQprocess number.